SOX Center

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

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved new guidance on Wednesday to help companies comply with what critics say is a burdensome and costly provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law.

The agency, by a 5-0 vote, encouraged companies to take a more risk-based approach to complying with Section 404 of the legislation.

“Congress never intended that the 404 process should become inflexible, burdensome and wasteful,” SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said at the agency’s open meeting.

Section 404 requires companies to assess their internal controls over financial reporting. It also calls for external auditors to report on management’s assessment and on the controls themselves.

Corporations and business lobbyists have complained that Section 404 was too expensive and the SEC has conceded that, in some cases, overly cautious companies caused the law’s costs to exceed its benefits.

Yahoo!Finance: SEC adopts new guidance for Sarbanes-Oxley

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox isn’t ruling out further delays in applying stricter accounting requirements on small public companies but said such relief isn’t the option preferred by regulators.

About 6,000 smaller public companies have yet to come under two requirements adopted by Congress in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, calling for companies to make an annual assessment of their internal financial-reporting controls, with further review by the company’s outside auditor. Regulators have delayed applying that portion of the law to smaller companies amid complaints that compliance has been very costly and time-consuming for larger companies. In response to such complaints, the SEC and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are working to make the requirement less burdensome for all companies.

SmartPros: SEC Chairman: Sarbanes-Oxley Relief for Small Firms Not First Choice

BIO Reiterates Support as Senate Small Business Committee Considers Changes

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox and Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Chairman Mark Olsen prepare to testify before the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship today, BIO reiterated its support for changes to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) that will specifically benefit small biotech companies.

“The biotechnology industry was particularly hard-hit by the complex and burdensome regulations imposed by SOX’s Section 404. We have supported changes to its implementation, so our companies can refocus on our most important mission of researching and developing new therapies to improve human health, expand our food supply, and provide new sources of energy,” said BIO President and CEO Jim Greenwood. “We are pleased to see that agency and congressional leaders are listening.”

Yahoo!Finance: Biotech Research and Development Will Benefit from Sarbanes-Oxley Changes

Some Accuse SEC of Pushing Accounting Board, Tilting to Business in Rules Process

Complaints are rising that the Securities and Exchange Commission is muscling an accounting oversight board in a tilt toward business interests as the two agencies fashion rules for public companies and auditors under a landmark anti-fraud law.

In recent months the SEC and the independent board that supervises the accounting industry have taken differing approaches toward the key part of the Sarbanes-Oxley law that arose from the 2002 corporate scandals: the requirement for companies to assess the strength of their internal financial controls and to fix any problems.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox urged, in a letter to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board last fall, that it revise its rules for outside accountants under the requirement to adapt them to the size of the company whose books are being audited.

Yahoo!:SEC Accused of Muscling Accounting Board

Phoenix, a new computer system, should simplify tracking, collecting, and distributing billions of dollars of penalties, says Chairman Cox in his budget statement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is creating a new office dedicated to disbursing money to investors harmed in securities-fraud cases.

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the SEC became the fund holder for the disgorgement and fines it collects in such cases. While the regulator has done a good job of collecting and putting aside the cash, it has fallen behind with getting the money back to harmed investors, according to SEC chairman Christopher Cox. On Tuesday, Cox acknowledged that “too much money is still undisbursed.”

The commission has struggled in identifying claimants and keeping track of the funds, according to Cox. As a result, the SEC is creating the new office and a new computer system, he said during a Congressional appropriations meeting where he discussed President Bush’s proposed $905 million allotment for the SEC’s 2008 budget.

CFO.com: SEC Unit Eyes Swifter Fraud Payouts

SEC officials are reviewing an accounting rule, which has been criticised by business groups as overly expensive.

For two weeks, SEC officials and the board that oversees the audit industry have been meeting and exchanging documents about the rule, which requires accountants to review corporate financial controls.

But SEC chairman, Christopher Cox,said an agreement remains days away, the Washington Post reported.

AccountancyAge:SEC reviews expensive Sarbox accounting rule

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’