INDUSTRY AGAIN SEEKS REDUCED REPORTING STANDARDS FOR SMALL COMPANIES

The biotechnology industry is making another attempt to ease Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) reporting and auditing requirements for smaller companies to ensure that product innovation is not hindered.

A coalition of industry associations, including the Advanced Medical Technology Association, is requesting that the SEC take a company's size and the cost of compliance into account when setting auditing and reporting requirements under Section 404 of SOX.

Such a move is necessary because the current cost of these requirements outweighs any benefit and diverts companies' R&D resources, the groups said in a Sept. 12 public-comment letter to the SEC.

This letter responds to a paper the SEC issued July 11 laying out a variety of issues the agency may address in its upcoming SOX rule. The public-comment period for the paper ended Sept. 11.

The coalition letter is available at www.sec.gov/comments/s7-11-06/s71106-47.pdf (http://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-11-06/s71106-47.pdf).