SEC extends SOX 404(b) compliance date—again—for non-accelerated filers
By Cydney Posner
Today, the SEC posted final rules that extend the compliance date for non-accelerated filers to file SOX 404(b) auditor's attestation reports on internal control over financial reporting.
Under the new rule, a non-accelerated filer will be required to file the auditor's attestation report when it files an annual report for a fiscal year ending on or after June 15, 2010. The corresponding temporary rules are also being amended. Without today's amendments, a non-accelerated filer would have been required to file the auditor's attestation report with annual reports for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2009. The reason for the delay this time is that the SEC was waiting for the big staff study to be completed and for small companies to get ready for compliance. With this amendment, the attestation report for non-accelerated filers will have been delayed for over five years. However, SEC Chair Mary Schapiro warns that "there will be no further Commission extensions, [so] it is important for all public companies and their auditors to act with deliberate speed to move toward full Section 404 compliance." While that may sound very familiar, it appears that they actually mean it this time, unless, of course, Congress takes action to prohibit it, like this bill introduced October 8, 2009, HR 3775, to exempt certain small businesses from the attestation requirement of section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Below is the SEC's table showing revised compliance dates for the SOX 404 internal control requirements:
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