[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 192 (Thursday, October 3, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62082-62083]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-25162]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION


Approval of Collection of Information; Extension of Expiration 
Date

    Waiver of Auditor Consent and Reissued Accountants' Report: SEC 
File No. 270-503. OMB Control No. 3235-0558.
    Temporary Relief for Certain Entities Audited by Arthur Andersen 
LLP: SEC File No. 270-502. OMB Control No. 3235-0557.
    Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) has approved the Commission's collection of information 
entitled ``Waiver of Auditor Consent and Reissued Accountants'' 
Report'' (OMB Control No. 3235-0558). In addition, OMB has granted the 
Commission's request for an extension of the expiration date for its 
approved collection entitled ``Temporary Relief for Certain Entities 
Audited by Arthur Andersen LLP'' (OMB Control No. 3235-0557). The new 
expiration date for this collection of information is December 31, 
2002.
    In March 2002, the Commission adopted rules and promulgated orders 
to assure a continuing and orderly flow of information to investors and 
the U.S. capital markets and to minimize potential disruptions that 
might occur as a result of the indictment of Arthur Andersen LLP.\1\ 
These rules and orders contained collection of information requirements 
and the Commission submitted these requirements to OMB pursuant to 44 
U.S.C. 3507, 5 CFR 1320.11, and 5 CFR 1320.13. OMB approved the 
collection of information requirements. An agency may not conduct or 
sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. 
Compliance with the disclosure requirements is mandatory for those 
taking advantage of the relief offered by the rules and orders. There 
is no mandatory retention period for the information disclosed, and 
responses to the disclosure requirements will not be kept confidential. 
Comments concerning the accuracy of the burden estimates described 
below and suggestions for reducing these burdens should be directed to 
Jonathan G. Katz, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 
Fifth Street, NW., Washington, DC 20549-0609, with reference to File 
No. 270-502 or 270-503.
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    \1\ Release Nos. 33-8070, 34-45589, IC-25463, IA-2017, 35-27502 
(Mar. 18, 2002); 67 FR 13518 (Mar. 22, 2002).
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    Waiver of Auditor Consent and Reissued Accountants' Report. The 
Federal securities laws require companies to include in their 
registration statements the consent of auditors for use of their 
reports related to the three previous years' audits. For Andersen 
clients unable to obtain these consents, the rules adopted in March 
waived the obligation to obtain an auditor's consent for years before 
2001, provided that the company discloses any limitations on remedies 
resulting from the lack of consents. In addition, the federal 
securities laws require certain issuers that change auditors to obtain 
from their predecessor auditor a reissued accountants' report for 
previously audited financial statements. Under the rules adopted in 
March, if the issuer is unable to obtain the accountants' report after 
reasonable efforts, the issuer may provide a copy of the latest 
previously issued accountants' report, as long as it discloses that the 
report is a copy of a report previously issued and that the report has 
not been reissued by Andersen. This collection of information is 
necessary to advise potential purchasers of securities and investors of 
certain information that they would not receive otherwise.
    When we proposed this collection of information, we estimated that 
the disclosures associated with the waiver of consents would require 
one half hour, and that the disclosures associated with the waiver of 
the predecessor auditor's reissued report would also require one half 
hour. We estimated that the total number of burden hours associated 
with this collection of information would be 3,182.5. We solicited, but 
did not receive, comments on our estimates of the burden associated 
with this collection of information. The approval for this collection 
of information expires on May 31, 2005.
    Temporary Relief for Certain Entities Audited by Arthur Andersen 
LLP (OMB Control No. 3235-0557. As described in detail in Release No. 
33-8070 (Mar. 18, 2002), 67 FR 13518 (Mar. 22, 2002), this collection 
of information encompasses certain new disclosures required by certain 
clients of Andersen. In general, public companies for whom Andersen 
does not complete audits or reviews have been allowed to file unaudited

[[Page 62083]]

financial statements, rather than audited ones, in order to meet 
existing periodic reporting, proxy statement, tender offer, and 
registration requirements, as long as they disclose that the financial 
statements are unaudited (or not reviewed), provide audited (or 
reviewed) financial statements at a later date, and explain any 
material differences between the unaudited and audited financial 
statements. In certain cases where Andersen clients were required to 
submit a consent or a reissued accountants' report from their auditor, 
but cannot obtain the consent or the reissued accountants' report, 
those requirements have been waived provided the filing includes 
appropriate disclosure. The disclosures regarding consents and reissued 
accountants' reports were also approved by OMB as the stand-alone 
collection of information described above. The collection of 
information is necessary to ensure that the market receives disclosure 
from clients of Andersen that are taking advantage of this relief. The 
collection of information supplies investors with information they may 
not otherwise have and helps prevent confusion.
    When we adopted this collection of information \2\ we estimated 
that the total number of burden hours associated with this collection 
of information is 12,783. We requested approval from OMB to extend the 
expiration date for this collection of information. OMB granted this 
request. The new expiration date for this collection of information is 
December 31, 2002.
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    \2\ Release No. 33-8090 (Mar. 18, 2002); 67 FR 13518 (Mar. 22, 
2002).

    Dated: September 30, 2002.
Margaret H. McFarland,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 02-25162 Filed 10-2-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010-01-P