SOX Whistleblowers Protection

The SEC recently announced that it’s giving another delay to the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley to smaller public companies.

Now the small companies won’t have to comply with an internal-controls audit requirement until December 15, 2009. Some wonder if the compliance date will ever actually arrive. 

 The SEC has also announced it is going to commence a  cost-benefit analysis of Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 for small businesses including a look at  cost and benefit data. The delay has earned praise from the US chamber of Commerce which said it was an important step for business, particularly in this economic climate.

Senator  Olympia Snowe stated  ”When you consider that businesses that employ fewer than 20 people spend more than $2000 per employee in regulatory compliance costs than [larger]  businesses ….  it’s painfully clear that we could be doing more to help small businesses succeed. I am pleased that the SEC has taken steps today to help address and rectify this discrepancy,” 

One should question how many publicly trade companies actually have so few employees and why a company with only twenty (20) employees should really benefit from “going public”. Let’s hope that the current downturn in the economy is not somehow blamed on SOX regulations and that the true benifit of courageous SOX Whistleblowers is not diminished by such an unsupported conclusion.

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