March 29, 2006
I support the recommendations of the SEC Advisory Committee reducing the burdens of SOX Section 404 on smaller public companies.
However, I believe the use of a revenue filter to define smaller public companies imposes Section 404 compliance burdens on some small public companies without substantial benefit to investors.
The risk to the financial markets for all companies is adequately, fairly and simply addressed by the use of the market capitalization filters alone. In addition, the amount of a companys revenue does not correspond to the risk to investors or necessarily to the complexity of a company. There are some retail companies with market capitalization of under $100 million that could exceed the Committees recommended revenue thresholds with as few as five large retail locations. I believe the Committee should consider deleting the revenue filters and rely solely on market capitalization filters.
I support the Committee's efforts to scale the Section 404 requirements for smaller public companies and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to provide input on the Committees recommendations.