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The two top members of the House Small Business Committee asked regulators on Monday how much newly approved revisions to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act would save small companies, with the panel’s chairwoman saying a hearing about the law last week yielded only promises, not estimates.

In letters to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman Mark Olson, Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., and top panel Republican Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, asked for clarification about whether the SEC has developed cost estimates associated with changes to the 2002 corporate-governance law.

The letters follow a June 5 hearing about the law in the committee, and the adoption by the SEC and the accounting board of new guidance that will allow for focused checks on “internal controls” over financial reporting — the policies and procedures companies use to catch potential fraud on their books.

MarketWatch: Regulators asked for Sarbanes-Oxley costs

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