September 6, 2002
The SEC finally has posted its adopting release regarding acceleration of periodic reports at http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-8128.htm.
The SEC also has released its new Form 4 at http://www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/forms/form4.htm.
You may notice that the Section 302 adopting release is silent as to the effective date of Item 307(b) of Regulation S-K (requires disclosure of whether there have been any changes in internal controls since evaluation). Although you might want to check directly with the SEC staff, it appears that the staff may not require companies that file periodic reports in the immediate future to conduct a disclosure review immediately so that they can provide the disclosure.
Obviously, if a company has conducted the review, this disclosure should be made. The SEC is likely to clarify this area when they adopt rules under Section 404 requiring that there be an evaluation of internal controls.