No section 404 in the UK
Turnbull review to steer clear of US-style recommendations
The Financial Reporting Council will tomorrow release its recommended revised guidance on internal control, but it is expected to stay clear of US-stlye stringent requirements.
Link: Sarbox: The appliance of compliance
Speaking at a corporate governance conference in London this morning, FRC chief executive Paul Boyle declined to provide details of what the Turnbull review group had recommended, but said: ‘We are detecting no appetite from investors for using their money to replicate Sarbanes-Oxley in the UK’.
It is anticipated that the review group, headed up by HSBC finance director Douglas Flint, will recommend some improvements to the original guidance published in 1999.
Those fearful that it would be used to introduce requirements similar to section 404 of Sarbox, which requires directors to make a judgement on the effectiveness of a company’s internal controls and auditors to pass opinion on that judgement, look to have had their concerns allayed.