Canadian Securities Regulators Delay Proposed Internal Control Rule

The Canadian securities regulators have announced that they will extend the proposed implementation schedule of Multilateral Instrument 52-111, Reporting on Internal Control over Financial Reporting,¹ to give them more time to observe the effect in the United States of similar requirements. Therefore, if the regulators decide to implement these requirements, the earliest that a management internal control report and auditor attestation could be required would be for financial years ending on or after June 30, 2007. (Compliance with MI52-111 was proposed to be phased-in over a four-year period, depending on the market capitalization of the issuer, with the largest issuers being required to comply in respect of financial years ended on or after June 30, 2006.)