Effective Aug. 1, tardy companies will not only land squarely on NYSE-listed company enforcers' radar screens, they will be publicly flagged as "late filers."

As part of an extension of its late filing monitoring process, the exchange plans to add an "lf" to the symbols of companies that don't file quarterly or other interim reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission within the required time period. Five days after the due date for the financial reports, the "lf" designation will be highlighted on the Big Board's Web site, as well as the tape that reports NYSE trades.

The exchange began notifying all its listed companies earlier this month about the change. Currently, such actions are only taken against companies that file annual reports late.

As part of the monitoring process, NYSE officials confer with company management and board representatives as well as outside auditors to get a handle on the situation and track the company's progress toward a filing.

"This is more disclosure and transparency for investors with regard to NYSE securities, which is our goal," said Janice O'Neill, vice president for corporate compliance at the Big Board.

The Big Board's latest moves follow the recent approval by the SEC of a rule essentially codifying a practice that has been in effect since the fall of 2003. In its letter to companies, e-mailed July 1, the NYSE indicated that it agreed to extend the monitoring to quarterly filers at the SEC's request.

The exchange, however, didn't extend the current delisting process for late annual filers to those companies that don't file quarterly reports on a timely basis. Also, the exchange has no plans to speed up a potential delisting for the late annual filers, as urged by SEC staffers in the public release adopting the rule. Currently, if a company fails to file an annual report within nine months from the due date, the exchange could allow the company to continue trading, depending on the specific circumstances. After a year, delisting proceedings begin.

-- Phyllis Plitch (Dow Jones Newswires)