The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) is a joint initiative of five private sector organizations and is dedicated to providing thought leadership through the development of frameworks and guidance on enterprise risk management, internal control and fraud deterrence. The AICPA is a member of COSO.

The original COSO Internal Control – Integrated Framework (ICIF) was released in 1992 – before the Internet took hold and before the globalization of business. Recognizing technological and business developments along with increased corporate risks, the need to codify existing principles and supporting attributes as well as provide expanded guidance on non-financial reporting, COSO issued an updated framework for public comment. The framework retains the core definition of internal control and the five components of a system of internal control. Companies that already have an effective system of internal control should not experience additional responsibilities under the clarified framework. The comment period on the COSO exposure draft ended March 31, 2012.

On April 30, 2012, COSO postponed the release of the Updated Internal Control-Integrated Framework and related supporting documents until early 2013.

COSO expects to issue an exposure draft of the Internal Control over External Financial Reporting (ICEFR) Approaches and Examples (which will replace the 2006 Internal Control over Financial Reporting — Guidance for Smaller Public Companies ) for public comment in summer 2012 and to release the final ICEFR Approaches and Examples with the updated ICIF in early 2013.