PCAOB and SEC Announce Roundtable on Internal Control Reporting Requirements

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that they will sponsor a roundtable May 10, 2006, at the Commission’s headquarters in Washington, DC, to discuss second-year experiences with the reporting and auditing requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 related to companies’ internal control over financial reporting. The roundtable discussion will include issuers, auditors, investors, other interested parties and will be open to the public.

“I am very much open to suggestions to make the internal control assessment process more efficient, including modifications of the PCAOB's auditing standard and other actions the Board could undertake," said PCAOB Acting Chairman Bill Gradison. “This is the PCAOB's highest priority policy issue.”

The Commission and the Board participated in a roundtable discussion of the first year of implementing the Act’s internal control requirements in April 2005.

“Last spring’s informative roundtable resulted in valuable guidance,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox. “We look forward to an update on compliance efforts after year two. I’m pleased that the PCAOB is coordinating this year’s roundtable with the SEC. We will carefully consider the facts presented to help develop policies to effectively and efficiently improve the reliability of financial statements for the benefit of investors.”

The PCAOB and the Commission also announced that, in addition to the roundtable, they are seeking written feedback from auditors, investors, issuers and others on lessons learned from the first two years of applying the Act’s internal control reporting requirements and how the efficiency and effectiveness of those assessments and audits could be improved. The information that is submitted to either organization will become part of the public record of the roundtable.

Comments may be submitted electronically or by standard postal mail. Comments should be submitted by May 1, 2006, and will be made public.

To submit comments electronically:

Click on the Comment link on the PCAOB Web site, www.pcaobus.org. This will use your email program to create an email with the appropriate subject line and allow you to enter your comment directly or attach a file containing your comments.

Comments may be in the body of the email or included as an attachment. Preferred file formats for any attachment are Microsoft® Word and Adobe PDF in order to minimize any problems accessing your comments. If we encounter any problems accessing your file(s) we will use our best efforts to contact you.

To submit comments by standard postal mail:

Indicate “Internal Control Roundtable” in the reference line or at the beginning of your comments and send them to:
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Attention: Office of the Secretary
1666 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20006-2803