New Internal-Control Guidance Due Next Year

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox expects that newer, more business-friendly guidance to internal controls will be out by next year. Speaking to a Harvard Business School forum, Cox said the SEC will issue a concept release on management guidance “very soon,” followed by a public comment period. The initiative, Dow Jones Newswires reports, is the result of complaints by businesses about the financial burden of complying with the internal-control requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The key word here is “scalability,” as the agency works on ways to make compliance more cost-effective for smaller companies. Cox suggested the SEC might consider a “sliding scale” or “tiered approach” to charges.