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HR 3617 107th Congress House Finance and Financial Sector Accounting Accounting and auditing Accounting and financial statements Auditing Auditing and auditors Bankruptcy Business records Civil actions and liability Class actions (Civil procedure) Commerce Conflict of interests Congress Congressional reporting requirements Consultants Corporate collapse Crime and Law Enforcement Damages Discovery (Law) Financial services

Accountability for Accountants Act of 2002

Introduced: January 23, 2002 Introduced by: Markey, Edward J. Democratic · Massachusetts See on congress.gov
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 Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Feb 11, 2002
Referred to the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises.
Jan 23, 2002
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Jan 23, 2002
Introduced in House
 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service
Accountability for Accountants Act of 2002 - Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to extend joint and several liability to an auditor of financial statements: (1) who has been found by a jury to have failed to detect and report illegal acts of the issuer of securities that are the subject of a class action; (2) who has performed non-audit functions for such issuer during the time within which an alleged violation of securities occurred; or (3) the issuer of such securities is insolvent.

Declares stay of discovery procedures inapplicable in any private action against such auditor.

Amends the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Company Act of 1940, and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to extend liability to persons who aid or abet violations of such Act.

Amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to mandate maintenance of audit records of an issuer of securities and to impose criminal sanctions for non-compliance.

Requires an accountant/auditor of a securities issuer to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission on its decision to: (1) divest itself of interests in non-audit businesses in light of the inherent potential conflicts of interest in providing both audit and non-audit services to an issuer; or (2) cease providing non-audit services to companies whose financial statements it audits.

Mandates preservation of records during shareholder litigation.

What's happening now February 11, 2002

Referred to the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises.

 Committees of jurisdiction 2
 Cosponsors 4
All 4 Democratic 4