Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404: remediation, communication, education; Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF) asked three audit firms for insights on testing of remediation of internal control weaknesses, and the need for communicating what the new internal control reports will mean.(compliance)

Financial Executive, November, 2004 by Orenstein, Edith G.

As reporting season begins, many financial executives are understandably focused on the approaching deadline for initial reporting under Section 404 of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) rules for implementing 404 will require companies to provide, in their 10-Ks, a management report assessing the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, and will also require auditors to perform an audit of internal control over financial reporting in conjunction with the audit of the financial statements. Based on this work, the auditors must provide a new opinion attesting to management's assertion and a direct opinion on the internal control effectiveness.

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