The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced today that they will sponsor a roundtable on internal control reporting rules.

The roundtable is scheduled for May 10 at the commission’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to discuss second-year experiences with the reporting and auditing requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 related to companies’ internal control over financial reporting. The roundtable discussion will include issuers, auditors, investors and other interested parties.

“Last spring’s informative roundtable resulted in valuable guidance,” said SEC chairman Christopher Cox. “We look forward to an update on compliance efforts after year two. I’m pleased that the PCAOB is coordinating this year’s roundtable with the SEC. We will carefully consider the facts presented to help develop policies to effectively and efficiently improve the reliability of financial statements for the benefit of investors.”

The SEC’s internal control reporting rules have been criticized as excessively expensive to implement. In Canada, regulators have proposed similar rules, which have come under similar criticism. They have yet to decide how to proceed.

“I am very much open to suggestions to make the internal control assessment process more efficient, including modifications of the PCAOB’s auditing standard and other actions the Board could undertake,” said PCAOB acting chairman Bill Gradison. “This is the PCAOB’s highest priority policy issue.”

The commission and the PCAOB also announced that, in addition to the roundtable, they are seeking written feedback from registrants, auditors, investors and others on their experiences with complying with the Section 404 requirements. These submissions are due before May 1.