Secton 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act applies to companies filing reports under Section 13 (a) or 15 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 with SEC. These include -

- Banks
- Saving Associations
- Small Business Issuers
- Non U.S. Companies

Requirement of Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act apply to all "Issuers". Sarbanes Oxley defines an Issuer as -

- an entity that has a class of Securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act

- an entity that is required to file reports under Section 15 (d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

- an entity that has filed a registration statement and that has not become effective under Securities Exchange Act 1933 which has not been withdrawn.

As per the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, in case activities of a non-public subsidiary of a public company are material, the issuer parent public company needs to evaluate the controls of such non-public subsidiary in order to comply with the requirements of Section 404 of SOX.