Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Streamlining Public Company Accounting Oversight Act”.
Streamlining Public Company Accounting Oversight Act
A BILL
To amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to transfer the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Transfer of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to Securities and Exchange Commission
in the title heading, by striking “Public Company Accounting Oversight Board” and inserting “Office of Public Accounting Oversight”;
by striking “Public Company Accounting Oversight Board” each place it appears and inserting “Office of Public Accounting Oversight”;
by striking “the Board” each place it appears and inserting “the Office”;
by striking “The Board” each place it appears and inserting “The Office”; and
by striking “the Board’s” each place it appears and inserting “the Office’s”.
Repeals— Sections 104, 105, and 107 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7214; 15 U.S.C. 7215; 15 U.S.C. 7217) are repealed.
References— Beginning on the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, any reference to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in any law, regulation, map, document, record, or other paper of the United States shall be deemed to be a reference to the Office of Public Accounting Oversight of the Office of the Chief Accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Termination of existing Board— The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board shall terminate on the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Sec. 3 Establishment; administrative provisions
Section 101 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7211) is amended—
by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
“(a) Establishment of Office—There is established in the Office of the Chief Accountant of the Commission an Office of Public Accounting Oversight, to oversee the audit of companies that are subject to the securities laws, and related matters, in order to protect the interests of investors and further the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate, and independent audit reports.”
by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
“(b) Director—The Chief Accountant of the Office of the Chief Accountant of the Commission shall serve as the Director of the Office of Public Accounting Oversight.”
in subsection (c)—
in the heading, by striking “the Board” and inserting “the Office”;
by striking “, subject to action by the Commission under section 107, and once a determination is made by the Commission under subsection (d) of this section”;
in paragraph (3), by striking “section 104” and inserting “subsection (e)”;
in paragraph (4), by striking “section 105” and inserting “subsection (f)”;
in paragraph (5)—
by striking “the Board (or the Commission, by rule or order)” and inserting “the Commission”; and
by inserting “and” after the semicolon;
in paragraph (6)—
by striking “the rules of the Board” and inserting “the rules of the Commission”; and
by striking “; and” and inserting a period; and
by striking paragraph (7);
in subsection (d)—
by striking “The members of the Board” and inserting “The Chief Accountant of the Office of the Chief Accountant of the Commission”;
by striking “270 days after the date of enactment of this Act” and inserting “1 year after the date of the enactment of the Streamlining Public Company Accounting Oversight Act”; and
by striking the last sentence;
by striking subsections (e), (f), and (g);
by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
“(e) Inspections of registered public accounting firms—The Office shall conduct a continuing program of inspections to assess the degree of compliance of each registered public accounting firm and associated persons of that firm with this Act, the rules of the Commission, or professional standards, in connection with its performance of audits, issuance of audit reports, and related matters involving issuers.
“(f) Investigations and disciplinary proceedings—The Commission shall establish, by rule, fair procedures for the investigation and disciplining of registered public accounting firms and associated persons of such firms.”
by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection (g); and
in the heading of subsection (g), as so redesignated, by striking “the Board” and inserting “the Office”.
Sec. 4 Registration with the Office
Section 102 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7212) is amended—
in the section heading by striking “the Board” and inserting “the Office”;
in subsection (b)(2)(H), by striking “the Board or the”; and
in subsection (c)(2), by striking “ for purposes of sections 105(d) and 107(c)”.
Sec. 5 Auditing, quality control, standards, and rules
Section 103 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7213) is amended—
in the heading, by striking “and Independence Standards” and inserting “Standards, and”;
in subsection (a)(3)—
in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking “, subject to the terms of section 107,”;
by striking subparagraph (B); and
by redesignating subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (B);
in subsection (c) in the heading of paragraph (2), by striking “Board” and inserting “Office”; and
in subsection (d), by striking “101(h)” and inserting “101(g)”.
Sec. 6 Foreign public accounting firms
Section 106 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7216) is amended—
in the heading of subsection (a)(2), by striking “Board” and inserting “Office”; and
in subsection (c)—
by striking “and the Board, subject to the approval of the Commission, may,”; and
by striking “(or Board)”.
Sec. 7 Funding
Section 109 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7219) is amended—
by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
“(b) Annual budgets
“(1) Standard setting body—The standard setting body referred to in subsection (a) shall establish a budget for each fiscal year, which shall be reviewed and approved according to their respective internal procedures not less than 1 month prior to the commencement of the fiscal year to which the budget pertains.
“(2) The Office—The Commission shall establish the budget for the Office for each fiscal year.”
in subsection (c)—
by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
“(1) Recoverable budget expenses
“(A) Standard setting body—The budget of the standard setting body referred to in subsection (a) for each fiscal year shall be payable from annual accounting support fees, in accordance with subsections (d) and (e). Accounting support fees and other receipts of such standard-setting body shall not be considered public monies of the United States.
“(B) The Office—The budget of the Office (reduced by any registration or annual fees received under section 102(f) for the year preceding the year for which the budget is being computed) for each fiscal year may be payable from annual accounting support fees, in accordance with subsections (d) and (e). Accounting support fees and other receipts of the Office.”
in paragraph (2), by striking “shall” and inserting “may”;
in subsection (d)—
in the heading, by striking “the Board” and inserting “the Office”;
in paragraph (1), by striking “The Board shall establish, with the approval of the Commission,” and inserting “The Commission may establish”;
in paragraph (2), by striking “shall” and inserting “may”; and
by striking paragraph (3);
in subsection (j)—
by striking “either the Board,”; and
by striking “, or both,”; and
by striking subsection (k).
Sec. 8 Definitions
Section 110 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7220) is amended—
by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as paragraphs (6) and (7); and
by inserting after paragraph (4) the following:
“(5) Office—The term Office means the Office of Public Accounting Oversight of the Office of the Chief Accountant of the Commission.”
Sec. 9 Technical and conforming amendments
Definitions— Section 2(a)(9)(C) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7201) is amended by striking “, 101(c), 105, and 107(c) and the rules of the Board and Commission issued thereunder” and inserting “and 101(c) and the rules of the Commission thereunder”.
Exemption authority— Section 201(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7231(b)) is amended—
by striking “The Board may” and inserting “The Commission may”; and
by striking “in the same manner as for rules of the Board under section 107.”.
Self-Regulatory organization— Section 603(y)(3) of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(y)(3)) is amended by striking “any entity established under title I of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002,”.
Sec. 10 Rule of construction with respect to cooperative arrangements
Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to invalidate or otherwise affect a cooperative arrangement between the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and a foreign auditor oversight authority (as defined in section 2(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 7201(a))) in effect on the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Sec. 11 Regulations
The Securities and Exchange Commission may issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out this Act.
Sec. 12 Effective date
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.