PCAOB demands accounting fees
Hundreds of public companies still owe The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board accounting fees, it has emerged.
Link: PCAOB sets out proposals for non-US firms
Chairman William McDonough, told reporters in Washington that those companies that still owed dues would not be given a clean bill of health.
‘Those companies that have not paid cannot get a clean opinion from their auditor,’ said McDonough.
In August, the board notified about 8,500 publicly traded companies, investment companies and other equity issuers of the accounting fee they would have to pay to fund the operations of the PCAOB, as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Under the Act, the fees are due from each company 30 days after notice was sent.
Companies that do not pay the fees are in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which is enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As many as 500 companies failed to pay up in time for the 3 November deadline, and by the beginning of this month, 421 had still not paid.
A full list of the companies and others that have paid can be found online at: http://www.pcaobus.org/IssuersPaid.pdf