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Jack Ciesielski submits: CFO.com reports that Senators John Kerry (Massachusetts) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) have sent another letter to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox requesting further delay in the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s Section 404 for small companies.

It’s deja vu all over again: they sent a letter to him last February on the same subject.

Here’s a link to the letter. The senators didn’t ask for a specific extension - but wanted an answer from Chairman Cox in 30 days. Last time, the specifically asked the SEC to give small firms until the end of 2008 to have management report on their internal controls, and another year afterwards for the auditors to report on the same.

Yahoo.com: The Protected Class: Senators’ Request For Sarbox Delay - Part II

John Kerry and Olympia Snowe want another delay for small companies.

Senators John Kerry and Olympia Snowe have sent another letter to Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox asking him to give small companies more time to prepare for complying with the internal-control provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The small-business committees in both the House and Senate have recently met with Cox and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman Mark Olson to go over how the revised management guidance and corresponding new auditing standard for internal control over financial reporting address the concerns of small businesses. Those companies with a market capitalization of less than $75 million must include 404 management reports starting with their 10-Ks filed on or after December 15, 2007 and auditor-attestation reports one year later.

CFO.com: Senators Urge SEC to Delay 404, Again

Senators John Kerry (D- Mass.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) outlined specific steps the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should take to provide more time and assistance to small public companies to comply with Sarbanes Oxley internal control regulations. Kerry and Snowe, as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, have been closely following the impact of Sarbanes Oxley compliance on small public companies worth less than $75 million.

“Small public companies still face higher costs than large firms and deserve more time to comply with the recent changes to Sarbanes-Oxley. The regulations issued by the SEC last month are an important step, but I again strongly urge the SEC to give small public companies additional time to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and to find additional ways to reduce their regulatory burden” said Kerry.

Yahoo: Kerry, Snowe Call on SEC to Give Small Firms More Time, Assistance to Comply With Sarbanes Oxley

The Office of Advocacy today praised Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commissioners Paul Atkins and Kathleen Casey for their willingness to reconsider the SEC decision not to extend the deadline for small public firm compliance with section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Advocacy wrote to the commissioners in the wake of the SEC’s decision not to grant postponement of deadlines for public firms with less than $75 million in market value.

In the letter Chief Counsel for Advocacy Thomas M. Sullivan asked the SEC to revisit the issue of compliance deadline extensions for smaller public firms. This request mirrors that of recent letters to the SEC by Senators John Kerry (D- Mass.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), the Ranking Member.

Kansas City infoZine News: SEC Should Reconsider Sarbanes-Oxley Extensions for Small Business

Lawmakers and regulators in Washington, D.C., yesterday heard an earful from small-business owners, including some from Massachusetts, who claimed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is burdening firms and stifling growth.

Complaints ranged from the costs associated with the act’s accounting regulations to firms balking at going public if it means spending so much money complying with provisions.

“From my perspective as an entrepreneur, the atmosphere for raising capital in the U.S. has taken a turn for the worse,” said Joseph Piche, chief executive of Franklin-based Eikos Inc., a privately held nanotechnology firm. Piche, whose firm has explored going public, and others testified at a hearing of the U.S. Senate’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, headed by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

Thomas Venables, chief executive of Benjamin Franklin Bancorp in Franklin, said his bank achieved compliance last year with a key provision of the act, Section 404, which requires extensive accounting procedures.

Boston Herald: Small biz hits Sarbanes-Oxley law

The American Bankers Association has asked securities regulators to continue exempting smaller public companies from stricter accounting requirements adopted by Congress in 2002, deferring application for another two to three years.

In a letter Monday to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, the banking trade group said it “strongly urges” smaller companies remain exempt from requirements to assess internal financial-reporting controls, have them reviewed by their outside auditor, and report major flaws to investors and regulators.

Senate Small Business Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass.; House Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velasquez, D-N.Y.; and the senior Republicans on those panels, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, are in strong support of such a delay, as is the Small Business Administration, according to the ABA.

Dow Jones Newswires: Bankers Assn Seeks Continued Small-Business Exemption

Today Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) called for a delayed implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 requirements for small public firms to ease the burden on complying with the expected new auditing standards. Section 404 requires firms to establish internal control frameworks and to file internal control reports. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) proposed rules and guidance late last year addressing this section and are accepting public comments through Monday, February 26th.

“We can have strong corporate accountability standards while also reducing the burden for small firms who spend more time and money earned than big companies to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley,” said Kerry. “We must do everything possible to appropriately reduce red tape in order for small firms to grow and become dynamic public companies.”

Yahoo!: Kerry, Snowe Urge Sarbanes-Oxley Extension for Small Firms

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) has introduced legislation to ease the concerns small companies have about the cost of complying with section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. But amid Congress’s month-long break until the Nov. 7 elections, followed by a year-end, lame-duck session, the bill isn’t expected to go anywhere or get much attention.

None of the sources CFO.com contacted — many of them small business executives — had heard of the legislation, which the former presidential candidate introduced in the Senate nearly two weeks ago. It was referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Called the Small Business Sarbanes-Oxley Assistance Act of 2006 (S. 3919), the legislation would help companies comply with Sarbox in two ways: the Small Business Administration would award $5 million annually in federal grants to small businesses, and a task force would periodically report to Congress how to help companies comply with the 2002 law. The task force, assembled by the SBA’s chief counsel for advocacy, would include Securities and Exchange representatives.

CFO.com: Kerry’s Sarbox Relief Bill Not Enough