Good news for non-accelerated filers: The Securities and Exchange Commission has granted them more time to begin providing audited assessments of their internal controls over financial reporting as required under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,

The SEC announced the extension today at the same time it published the findings of its long-awaited study on the cost of complying with the statute’s ICFR requirements.

The announcement means that the smallest public companies will begin complying with the provision in nine months, beginning with their annual reports for fiscal years ending on or after June 15, 2010, instead of for fiscal years ending on or after Dec. 15, 2009. That was the deadline under an earlier extension granted by the SEC so its Office of Economic Analysis could complete the study of whether additional guidance provided to management and auditors in 2007 was effective in reducing the costs of compliance.

“Because the study was published less than three months before the December 15 deadline, the Commission determined that additional time is appropriate and reasonable so that small public companies and their auditors can better plan for the required auditor attestation,” the SEC press release states.

“Since there will be no further Commission extensions, it is important for all public companies and their auditors to act with deliberate speed to move toward full Section 404 compliance,” SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said.

Among the study’s findings: The evidence…indicates that there is an “economically and statistically significant reduction in Section 404 compliance costs following the 2007 reforms,” which is most pronounced among larger companies.

More than half of survey participants reported that the 2007 reforms led to a decrease in compliance costs, consistent with the objectives of the reform and the reported cost reductions. Nearly all respondents indicated that they relied on the Management Guidance and, of those, a majority found it to be useful, according to the report.

Among Section 404(b) companies, the mean total Section 404 compliance cost drops significantly from $2.87 million pre-reform to $2.33 million post-reform-a 19 percent decline in the total compliance cost, according to the report. “The compliance cost is expected to be lower still, with a mean cost of $2.03 million, representing a combined decline of 29 percent. When reporting compliance costs by size category, the mean total compliance cost decreases from $769,000 to $690,000 among filers with public float lower than $75 million, but this difference is not statistically significant.”

Compliance Week will provide readers with full details on the findings in an upcoming edition.