Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to take a fresh look at the thresholds that trigger Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires certain registrants to provide an auditor
attestation report on internal control over financial reporting (ICFR).
* Except for controls likely to be relevant to user entities' financial statement assertions, service organizations have not had a consistent and well-recognized method of providing an independent CPA's
attestation report on its system description or the suitability of design and operating effectiveness of its controls.
The second requires that sufficient evidence be collected to provide a reasonable basis for the conclusion given in the
attestation report.
Filers must recognize that, sometime in the future, the SEC may require an auditor's
attestation report for XBRL data.
The accountant's
attestation report will be filed with the issuer's annual 10-K.
.57 Interpretation--The practitioner should modify the scope paragraph of the
attestation report to indicate that the examination or review was "conducted in accordance with attestation standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the standards applicable to attestation engagements contained in Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States."
The SEC pushed back by six months the requirement that smaller public companies file an auditor's
attestation report on the company's internal controls.
The effective compliance date for smaller public companies is currently expected to be implemented in two stages: 1) the management report on internal control over financial reporting is required for the company's annual report for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2007; and 2) the auditor's
attestation report on internal control over financial reporting is required for fiscal years ending on or after December 15, 2008.
In addition, Section 404 requires a company's independent auditors to issue an
attestation report on management's assessments of its controls and financial reporting procedures.
(4) That the registered public accounting firm that audited the financial statements included in the annual report has issued an
attestation report on management's assessment.
If the examination supports an assertion that notes any deficiencies, the
attestation report would include the identified deficiency as an explanatory paragraph but would not be qualified otherwise, although that will change after June 30.