News Article - 24 July 2006
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American firms have a thing or two to teach British companies on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, according to Accountancy Magazine.

Clive Maudsley of UHY Hacker Young said that many US companies had misallocated a large amount of money and time in the first year of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, something which British firms should aim to avoid.

UK companies which have a listing in the US are required to be compliant to the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations for accounting years ending after July 15th, falling into the "accelerated filers" category. Sarbanes-Oxley accounts are expected to arrive from British firms from after October.

Mr Maudsley said that American companies had "learnt from [previous] mistakes" and added "the dramatic reduction in costs in the second year reflects the more considered approach they are taking to compliance".

Many of the high costs from Sarbanes-Oxley came from unnecessary controls for s404 compliance.

"Some s404 compliance checks are unreasonable and there is certainly scope for cutting compliance costs by exercising greater professional judgement," Mr Maudsley argued.

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