Sarbanes Oxley Act Of 2002 Section 404

Section 404 a of the act.

Sarbanes oxley act of 2002 section 404. Section 404 b requires a publicly held company s auditor to attest to and report on management s assessment of its internal controls. Since the law was enacted however both requirements have been postponed for smaller public companies. The public company accounting reform and investor protection act otherwise known as the sarbanes oxley act the act was enacted in july 2002 after a series of high profile corporate scandals involving companies such as enron and worldcom.

Summary of section 404 issuers are required to publish information in their annual reports concerning the scope and adequacy of the internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting. This section is listed under title iv of the act enhanced financial disclosures and pertains to management assessment of internal controls. The requirement of an auditor s attestation won t apply to most smaller public companies until their 2008 annual reports.

All annual financial reports must include an internal control report stating that management is responsible for an adequate internal control structure and an assessment by management of the effectiveness of the control structure. Section 404 of the sarbanes oxley act of 2002 public law 107 204 july 30 2002 as amended by section 989g a of the dodd frank wall street reform and consumer protection act public law. Section 404 is the most complicated most contested and most expensive to implement of all the sarbanes oxley act sections for compliance.