The U.S. House of Representatives on December 11 adopted a sweeping financial re-regulation bill, “The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009,” by a vote of 223 to 202. The AICPA served as an advocate on several provisions of interest to the accounting profession. Following are some of the bill’s provisions that could affect members:

• The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board would have the authority to inspect and regulate audits of all broker-dealers. The bill gives the PCAOB authority to exempt auditors of small, introducing broker-dealers from the registration and inspection requirements.
  
• Non-accelerated filers with market values below $75 million would be exempted from Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404(b) internal control requirements. Lawmakers called for a study by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Government Accountability Office on how the burdens of Section 404(b) can be lessened without harming investor protections for companies with a market capitalization between $75 million and $250 million.
  
• A new Consumer Financial Protection Agency would be created. Under a provision won by the AICPA, the House recognized that CPAs who provide financial planning, tax planning and tax return preparation, as well as financial literacy education to consumers, and who already are licensed by the states, should not be subject to new and duplicative CFPA regulation.
  
• A GAO study of whether Congress should create a regulatory oversight panel for financial planners was included. A proposal by others to create such an agency was dropped.

Substantial differences exist between the House-passed bill and legislation pending in the Senate. The Senate Banking Committee will take up its version of the legislation in 2010, perhaps as soon as mid-January.