The conventional wisdom on the new 404 guidance that so many people are eagerly anticipating is that it will not lead to meaningful change at the large-company level. Many are planning on basically doing the same thing they have the past 3 years. But because many have already moved so far down the learning curve, there could still be some cost savings. Some have suggested reduced costs of about 10 percent, a figure that some at the PCAOB agree with. AS5 [1] should allow people to breath easier in areas that do not pose major risks. So that's good news--for big companies. For small companies, given that another delay doesn't appear to be forthcoming, the big hit may have to be taken for the next fiscal year. The new standard is still in the works. But it looks like it will be only 60 pages long, about one-third of AS2's length.

For more:
- here's the article [2] from cfo.com