It's party time. July marks the fifth anniversary of the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley and preparations are underway to mark the occasion.

The Center for Audit Quality has announced it's holding a panel discussion and luncheon July 30 at the National Press Club in Washington.

And Audit Trail, the blog of the Approva Corporation has announced it's kicking off a number of features, including a survey to gauge the law's impact.

As expected, Congress is doing its bit to mark the occasion. The day after Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox told lawmakers that SOX wasn't hurting markets and that the sky wasn't falling in ("The extent that anyone is telling us that the sky is falling, I think they're at a minimum overstating things"), the US House of Representatives voted to give small companies an additional year to adhere to the sarbanes-oxley act's accounting rules. The companies were supposed to be ready this year.

The vote sends a signal to the SEC that the politicians don't think its changes go far enough in reducing compliance burdens on smaller companies. Which means the odds of another delay next year are looking good.

No doubt there will be many more anniversaries of Sarbanes-Oxley ahead. Can't say too many would be celebrating.