The Securities and Exchange Commission gave its clearest signal yet on whether it will require companies to transition to the new COSO internal control framework when its top accountant said recently companies would be wise to pay attention to what COSO says about its old framework — that it will be obsolete at the end of 2014.
SEC Chief Accountant Paul Beswick said during a recent speech he’s expecting questions about whether the SEC will provide management with any guidance on transition or implementation related to the Internal Control — Integrated Framework recently revamped by COSO (or the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission). “SEC staff plans to monitor the transition for issuers using the 1992 framework to evaluate whether and if any staff or commission actions become necessary or appropriate at some point in the future,” he said. “However, at this time, I’ll simply refer users of the COSO framework to the statements COSO has made about their new framework and their thoughts about transition.”
