Internal control issues at Weatherford Int

Mar 28, 2011

Weatherford International Ltd, a Geneva based oilfield services and equipment company, announced that it will be restating its results back to 2007 and delay the 2010 annual report. The delay the company said is due to tax accounting errors stemming from failure of internal controls.

The errors relate to writing off tax assets that were booked on transactions between subsidiaries starting in 2007. The corrections amount to more than $500 million over 4 years starting 2007.

Other than the accounting issue the company will definitely get hit with lower revenue in the next year due to the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa.

SOX- Finally some cost savings for smaller companies

Oct 7, 2010

In this economy where companies are cutting costs left and right, the SEC’s final rulemaking release on September 15, 2010 was a relief. The release eliminates the requirement for newly public companies and smaller public companies (i.e., non-accelerated filers – Exchange Act reporting company that has a public float under $75 million or that fails to meet other criteria for an “accelerated filer”) to include auditor attestation reports with respect to internal control over financial reporting in their annual reports.

Non-accelerated filers will remain subject to the requirements of Section 404(a) of Sarbanes Oxley and related rules that require a management report on internal control over financial reporting in annual reports filed with the SEC. The new rules will take effect upon publication in the Federal Register.

The change is thanks to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). Not only does this change reduce the stress factor but also saves smaller organizations some money, we all know that audit fees are not cheap!