[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2664 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2664

    To require annual oral testimony before the Financial Services 
 Committee of the Chairperson or a designee of the Chairperson of the 
Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Accounting Standards 
 Board, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, relating to 
     their efforts to promote transparency in financial reporting.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 2, 2009

 Mr. Lee of New York (for himself, Mr. Davis of Kentucky, Mr. Scott of 
  Georgia, Mr. Castle, and Mr. Putnam) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To require annual oral testimony before the Financial Services 
 Committee of the Chairperson or a designee of the Chairperson of the 
Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Accounting Standards 
 Board, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, relating to 
     their efforts to promote transparency in financial reporting.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Promoting Transparency in Financial 
Reporting Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Transparent and clear financial reporting is integral 
        to the continued growth and strength of our capital markets and 
        the confidence of investors.
            (2) The increasing detail and volume of accounting, 
        auditing, and reporting guidance pose a major challenge.
            (3) The complexity of accounting and auditing standards in 
        the United States has added to the costs and effort involved in 
        financial reporting.

SEC. 3. ANNUAL TESTIMONY ON REDUCING COMPLEXITY IN FINANCIAL REPORTING.

    The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Accounting 
Standards Board, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board 
shall annually provide oral testimony by their respective Chairpersons 
or a designee of the Chairperson, beginning in 2009, and for 5 years 
thereafter, to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
Representatives on their efforts to reduce the complexity in financial 
reporting to provide more accurate and clear financial information to 
investors, including--
            (1) reassessing complex and outdated accounting standards;
            (2) improving the understandability, consistency, and 
        overall usability of the existing accounting and auditing 
        literature;
            (3) developing principles-based accounting standards;
            (4) encouraging the use and acceptance of interactive data; 
        and
            (5) promoting disclosures in ``plain English''.
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