SEC Offering More Sarbanes 404 Relief for Smaller Companies

The SEC intends to propose delaying for another year the need for smaller public companies to have outside auditors assess internal financial controls under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and expect it to start in 2009. According to published reports, you would still have to have management assess the controls. This is not official yet, but SEC Chairman Cox told Congress yesterday that they plan to do that early next year. This is great news for many who were scrambling about thinking auditor review would start with years ending after December 15, 2008.