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Finance chiefs think that the revised SEC and PCAOB standards won’t change anything because they cancel each other out.

Mismatches between the internal-controls proposals of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will keep compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act overly burdensome and costly, CFOs think.

In letters to the SEC and the PCAOB commenting on the regulators’ proposed revisions to their guidelines, senior finance executives say that the tone and wording of the rules are too different to accomplish their main goal: to get senior top corporate management and audit firms on the same page in assessing and attesting to a company’s internal controls over financial reporting.

CFO.com: “CFOs: 404 Compliance Back at Square One”

The Office and Professional Employees International Union yesterday filed to intervene in a rate hike request by Washington Gas Light Co., saying it planned to protest the proposal out of concern that the company may hire outside contractors to replace customer service workers, which the union represents.

The company requested a rate increase of 7.7 percent in December with the District’s Public Service Commission and in September with Virginia regulators.

The company, which provides natural gas to nearly 1 million customers in Maryland, Virginia and the District, has not asked for a rate increase since 2003. “There has been inflation, additional compliance-related expenses, including Sarbanes-Oxley and the Pipeline Safety Act, and a decline in natural gas use by customers. Those are really our reasons for a rate increase,” said Jan Davis, a company spokeswoman. Customers in Virginia may notice a slight increase in their bills starting this week, but if Virginia regulators reject the proposed increase, customers will receive a refund.

washingtonpost.com: Union Protests Gas Rate Hike to Raise Outsourcing Issue

The ICAEW, supported by the Confederation of British Industry, will today call on US regulators to ‘mutually recognise’ the rigour of British accounting standards, rather than try and impose the US system on British headquartered and regulated companies.

According to the Daily Telegraph, both organisations will be represented at a round table debate of senior accounting and auditing figures, regulators and corporate leaders from both the UK and US in London.

Richard Lambert, the CBI’s director general and Robert Hodgkinson, the institute’s technical director, will speak alongside their colleagues from the US against the rules-based approach coming from Washington in the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley and other corporate governance measures.

AccountancyAge:ICAEW to call for more US recognition

Amid a final round of negotiations on making it easier to comply with the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law, federal regulators appear to be of different minds on some of the details.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires public-company management to review internal financial-reporting controls each year, and hire outside auditors to evaluate the controls. Critics say the requirement has been costly for larger companies that are already complying and may present extra hardships for the smaller companies that may have to begin complying as soon as next year.

On Monday, Securities and Exchange Commission Chief Accountant Conrad Hewitt said that the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board would propose special treatment for smaller companies with a market capitalization between $75 million and $750 million, depending on their revenue. That would include many companies that are already fully complying with the internal- controls rules.

Morningstar: Regulators Differ As Vote On Sarbanes-Oxley Changes Nears

Critics of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have called for action before the powerful US legislation encroaches on Europe’s borders.

A ‘regulatory creep’ scenario is feared because Sarbox’s stringent Section 404 compliance and audit provisions could inadvertently find their way into the UK were the London Stock Exchange to be taken over by a US exchange.

Stateside regulators the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) have tried to reassure concerned parties by increasing their co-operation with the Financial Services Authority.

SEC chairman Christopher Cox, said that neither the body, or their European counterparts would be work to avoid any potential ‘over-reach’ into related. Jurisdictions.

SEC allays concerns over ‘Sarbox ‘regulatory creep’