The House Financial Services Committee is considering two amendments to either delay or repeal the requirement for SOX 404(b). The first would require separate studies by the Government Accountability Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission to evaluate the costs and benefits of complying with Section 404(b) for non-accelerated filers. The second would exempt all companies with less than $700 million in market capitalization from Section 404(b).
Investor groups quickly voiced their opposition to the amendments in an Oct. 26 letter to several key members of Congress. Signed by leaders from the Council of Institutional Investors, the Consumer Federation of America, the American Association of Individual Investors, and the CFA Centre for Financial Market Integrity, the letter opposes any effort to further defer or exempt any public companies from the internal control requirements of Section 404, which they say “would do a grave disservice to investors whose trust in the markets is an essential ingredient in any financial recovery.”
“It is our view that the Section 404(b) requirements under SOX provide significant benefits to investors, are valuable regardless of a company’s size and represent an appropriate use of a company’s resources given the importance a strong system of internal controls has in producing reliable financial reporting,” the letter states.
Excerpt taken from October 30, 2009 Compliance Week article written by Melissa Klein Aguilar
A roll-call vote is slated for November 4th.
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