New COSO Guidance Aids Smaller Public Companies With Internal Controls
The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission’s (COSO's) highly anticipated Internal Control Over Financial Reporting - Guidance for Smaller Public Companies was released in July 2006. This small business guidance takes the concepts of the 1992 Internal Control – Integrated Framework and demonstrates their applicability for achieving financial reporting objectives of smaller publicly traded companies. An Executive Summary of the guidance, an archived webcast and Frequently Asked Questions are available for free. Order the full guidance at cpa2biz.com.

SEC Extends Section 404 Relief to
Smaller Public Companies
The SEC issued two releases on August 9, 2006 to grant smaller public companies and many foreign private issuers further relief from compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Essentially, compliance dates have been extended. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said that the actions were a show of the agency's efforts to minimize the burdens of Section 404 on both groups.

GASB Defines the Seven Elements of Governmental Financial Statements
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) proposed its fourth Concepts Statement, Elements of Financial Statement, defining the seven elements of governmental financial statements. When considered collectively, Concepts Statements form the GASB’s conceptual framework, which provides a foundation to guide the Board’s development of accounting and financial reporting standards. Comments on the exposure draft are due by November 17, 2006.

New GASB Project Will Expand Pension Plan Disclosure
In late August, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) added a project to its current technical agenda that likely will require state and local governments to provide enhanced disclosures and supplementary information about their pension plans to users of governmental financial statements. The project, on a fast track, is intended to bring current pension disclosure requirements for governments in line with those recently required for other post-employment benefits, or OPEB. Separately, in accordance with the GASB's strategic plan, the Board is conducting a concurrent research project to determine the effectiveness of existing governmental accounting standards in this area. Based upon constituent feedback received during that research, the Board will then determine whether or not further changes to current governmental accounting standards for pensions are necessary.