SEC announces extension for small business SOX compliance.

• Position: National

The SEC is extending the deadline for small public companies to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Section 404 internal control rules until July 2007.

Public companies with a market capitalization of less than $75 million will now have another year to review their financial controls. This is the second extension from the SEC.

The unanimous decision came in response to concerns that compliance is overly burdensome and costly for smaller public companies.

The SEC also proposed to shorten the time...