S 834 ISCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To require annual testimony before Congress by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, relating to efforts to promote transparency in financial reporting.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

March 9, 2007

Mr. HATCH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban AffairsCommentsClose CommentsPermalink

To require annual testimony before Congress by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, relating to efforts to promote transparency in financial reporting.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Promoting Transparency in Financial Reporting Act of 2007'.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) Transparent and clear financial reporting is integral to the continued growth and strength of our capital markets and the confidence of investors.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) The increasing detail and volume of accounting, auditing, and reporting guidance pose a major challenge.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(3) The complexity of accounting and auditing standards in the United States has added to the costs and effort involved in financial reporting.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

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 thereof, beginning in 2007, and for 5 years thereafter, to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives on their efforts to reduce the complexity in financial reporting, so that investors are provided with more accurate and clear financial information. That testimony shall address--CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(1) complex and outdated accounting standards;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(2) improving the understandability, consistency, and overall usability of the existing accounting and auditing literature;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(3) developing principles-based accounting standards;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(4) encouraging the use and acceptance of interactive data; andCommentsClose CommentsPermalink





(5) promoting disclosures in `plain English'.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink