Extension for SOX 404(b) Auditor Attestation for Non-Accelerated Filers

The SEC has approved an additional one-year extension of the auditor attestation requirement of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. 

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2008/2008-116.htm

Smaller companies have received several delays for full compliance with Section 404, which is the requirement for each public company to annually evaluate its internal control over financial reporting (ICFR).  Non-accelerated filers began complying with Section 404(a), the requirement to provide a management report on ICFR, with their annual reports for years ending on or after December 15, 2007.  Under the rules released last June, these companies would have been expected to begin complying with the Section 404(b) requirement, the related auditor report on ICFR,  for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2008. The SEC has now approved an additional one-year delay to the Section 404(b) requirement, which means that a non-accelerated filer will not have to begin providing the auditor report on ICFR until its first annual report for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2009.

Note that this delay does not apply to IPO companies, unless the IPO company also qualifies as a non-accelerated filer. Companies doing an initial public offering do not have to provide either a management report or an auditor report on ICFR until their second annual report, but they do not get an additional extension for the auditor report.