According to Reuters, William McDonough, chairman of The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, told reporters at The Economic Club of Washington’s Winter Luncheon Meeting on Wednesday that hundreds of public companies still owe the Board dues.

"Those companies that have not paid cannot get a clean opinion from their auditor," said McDonough.

In August, the board notified about 8,500 publicly traded companies, investment companies and other equity issuers of the accounting support fees that they would pay to fund the operations of the PCAOB, as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the accounting support fees are due from each company 30 days after notice was sent. Companies that do not pay the fees are in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which is enforced by the SEC.

After the November 3 deadline passed, the Board sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission informing them of over 500 companies that had not paid up as of the November 3 deadline. According to the Reuters report, 421 companies still have not paid as of December 3.

A list of companies and others that have paid can be found online at: http://www.pcaobus.org/IssuersPaid.pdf