TheCorporateCounsel.net

In its newly posted proposing release, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released its estimates of the levels of fees that companies would pay to fund the Board. As proposed, fees would be based on the relative average monthly market capitalization for the 12 months preceding the fiscal year.

The allocation of the fees is top-heavy. The Board estimates that the largest companies would be allocated $260,000 for every $10 million of accounting support fees. The 1,500th largest issuer would be allocated $500 for each $10 million of fees. To understand the order of magnitude, based on market capitaliztions at the end of 2001, the 5th largest company would pay about 63% of the fee paid by the largest market cap company, the 25th largest company would pay about 22%, and the 50th largest company would pay about 11%. The proposing release is at http://www.pcaobus.org/pcaob1/Rules/Release2003-002.pdf.

For TheCorporateCounsel.net subscribers, we have posted an interview with Mark Bergman of Paul Weiss regarding the impact of the new SEC rules on non-US companies at http://www.thecorporatecounsel.net/member/InsideTrack/03_18_03_Bergman.htm.