The Securities and Exchange Commission has granted small companies a one-year reprieve with regard to complying with the auditor-attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. When it approved the extension, the SEC said it wants to study the cost burden of compliance on small companies, defined as those having a market capitalization of $75m or less.
The Office of Management and Budget gave the SEC the go-ahead to proceed with data collection for a study on the costs and benefits of Section 404 implementation for smaller companies. The results of the study are expected to become available during the extension period.
With the extension, smaller companies will now be required to provide the attestation reports in their annual reports for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2009.
Source: CFO, http://cfo.com