Cox Nixes Proposal To Exempt Small Companies From SOX

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox put to rest any notion that the SEC would exempt smaller firms from the burden of complying with the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox put to rest any notion that the SEC would exempt smaller firms from the burden of complying with the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. Cox told reporters that the SEC’s emphasis is on “making [the act] work and implementing it in a cost-effective and investor protected way, rather than simply waiving it. A proposal last December by an SEC advisory panel recommended a full exemption for small companies, which constitute 80% of those affected by the law. As a gesture to opponents of the act, Bloomberg News reports, the SEC has extended to small companies the date for compliance with the auditing requirement of SOX.