For much of the year, I had been telling people not to hold their breath for another Sarbanes Oxley 404 delay for nonacclerated filers. My point was you couldn't count on any sort of regulatory decisions, so your smartest choice was to act as if you would have to comply. But it appears as if small companies will get a holiday gift in the form of yet another delay. Previously, small firms were required to comply with 404 if their fiscal years ended before Dec. 15, 2008. The head of the SEC has proposed another one-year delay, one that many of the 5,000 affected companies will applaud. Christopher Cox told Congress he wants some time to study the competitiveness issues. Who knows, the way things are going, the requirement could be scrapped all together. Here's an idea. Comply anyway. Shareholders just might show their appreciation.  

For more:
- here's a New York Times article [1]
- the Council of Institutional Investors is not happy [2] about this
- Grant Thornton opposes another delay. Release [3]