S.E.C. Panel to Urge Auditing Exceptions

S.E.C. Panel to Urge Auditing Exceptions - New York Times

ＳＥＣの諮問委員会が、中小会社を企業改革法（the Sarbanes-Oxley Act）４０４条から免除するという提言を正式に行う見込みであるという記事。

An influential advisory committee appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission is about to formally propose that thousands of smaller companies be exempted from significant parts of the four-year-old law that imposed significant new auditing rules on corporate America.

この免除により、公開会社の５分の４は、４０４条（内部統制監査を義務付けた条項）を免れることができるようです。

The most controversial recommendation by the advisory committee would exempt four out of five public companies from the provision that requires companies to review their financial reporting procedures and fix any problems that could lead to mistakes or fraud.

中小会社にとっては４０４条の適用はコストがベネフィットを上回るという理屈です。

The committee says that the smaller companies ought to be exempt from the regulation, Section 404, because the costs of compliance are far greater than the benefits.

他方、委員会の提言どおり免除が実施されると、昨年までに内部統制の重要な不備が報告された４５０社近くも、全部又は一部免除対象になってしまうという批判もあります。

But the committee's critics note that nearly 450 companies that had reported significant problems with their financial controls by last year would be totally or partly exempt from the requirement to review financial reporting procedures.

委員会の提案では、時価総額（正確には社債などの入るのかもしれません）１億２８００万ドル未満の会社には全面的に、１億２８００万ドルから７億８７００万ドルまでの会社は部分的に免除されることになります。

The advisory committee proposes to fully exempt companies with a market capitalization of less than $128 million and give a more limited exemption to those with capitalizations of $128 million to $787 million.

本筋とは直接関係ありませんが、記事では、委員会の責任者が関与していた上場会社が、会計上の問題を抱えていることを指摘しています。

But the advisory committee's leader, Herbert S. Wander, has had his own recent experience with audit problems. He has served for many years on the board and on the audit committee of a publicly traded company that in recent months has disclosed a steady stream of significant accounting lapses.