SEC Grants Final Extension For Compliance With Auditor Attestation Of Internal Control Reports

On October 2, 2009, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") announced that all remaining public reporting companies will be required to fully comply with the requirements set forth in Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ("SOX"), beginning in June 2010. Specifically, public reporting companies with a public float below $75 million will need to comply with Item 308 of Regulation S-K, rather than Item 308T of Regulation S-K, and provide their independent registered public accounting firm's attestation report on internal control over financial reporting, as required by Section 404(b) of SOX, beginning with their annual reports for fiscal years ending on or after June 15, 2010. The effect of this action for most smaller companies, namely those with calendar-year fiscal years, is to delay the requirement to provide the attestation report until the filing of their annual report for fiscal year 2010.