| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 118THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 2606 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require auditor independence standards of the Public Company Accounting |
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| 6 | 6 | | Oversight Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission applicable |
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| 7 | 7 | | to past audits of a company occurring before it was a public company |
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| 8 | 8 | | to treat an auditor as independent if the auditor meets established |
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| 9 | 9 | | professional standards, and for other purposes. |
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| 10 | 10 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 11 | 11 | | APRIL13, 2023 |
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| 12 | 12 | | Mr. M |
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| 13 | 13 | | CHENRYintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the |
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| 14 | 14 | | Committee on Financial Services |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To require auditor independence standards of the Public |
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| 17 | 17 | | Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Securities |
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| 18 | 18 | | and Exchange Commission applicable to past audits of |
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| 19 | 19 | | a company occurring before it was a public company |
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| 20 | 20 | | to treat an auditor as independent if the auditor meets |
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| 21 | 21 | | established professional standards, and for other pur- |
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| 22 | 22 | | poses. |
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| 23 | 23 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 24 | 24 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2606.IH H2606 |
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| 26 | 26 | | kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 27 | 27 | | •HR 2606 IH |
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| 28 | 28 | | SECTION 1. AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE FOR CERTAIN PAST 1 |
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| 29 | 29 | | AUDITS OCCURRING BEFORE AN ISSUER IS A 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | PUBLIC COMPANY. 3 |
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| 31 | 31 | | (a) A |
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| 32 | 32 | | UDITORINDEPENDENCE STANDARDS OF THE 4 |
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| 33 | 33 | | P |
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| 34 | 34 | | UBLICCOMPANYACCOUNTINGOVERSIGHTBOARD.— 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | Section 103 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. 6 |
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| 36 | 36 | | 7213) is amended by adding at the end the following: 7 |
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| 37 | 37 | | ‘‘(e) A |
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| 38 | 38 | | UDITORINDEPENDENCE FOR CERTAINPAST 8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | A |
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| 40 | 40 | | UDITSOCCURRINGBEFORE ANISSUERISAPUBLIC 9 |
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| 41 | 41 | | C |
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| 42 | 42 | | OMPANY.—With respect to an issuer that is a public 10 |
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| 43 | 43 | | company or an issuer that has filed a registration state-11 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ment to become a public company, the auditor independ-12 |
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| 45 | 45 | | ence rules established by the Board with respect to audits 13 |
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| 46 | 46 | | occurring before the last fiscal year of the issuer completed 14 |
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| 47 | 47 | | before the issuer filed a registration statement to become 15 |
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| 48 | 48 | | a public company shall treat an auditor as independent 16 |
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| 49 | 49 | | if— 17 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ‘‘(1) the auditor is independent under standards 18 |
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| 51 | 51 | | established by the American Institute of Certified 19 |
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| 52 | 52 | | Public Accountants applicable to certified public ac-20 |
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| 53 | 53 | | countants in United States; or 21 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ‘‘(2) with respect to a foreign issuer, the audi-22 |
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| 55 | 55 | | tor is independent under comparable standards ap-23 |
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| 56 | 56 | | plicable to certified public accountants in the issuer’s 24 |
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| 57 | 57 | | home country.’’. 25 |
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| 58 | 58 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2606.IH H2606 |
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| 59 | 59 | | kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 |
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| 60 | 60 | | •HR 2606 IH |
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| 61 | 61 | | (b) AUDITORINDEPENDENCE STANDARDS OF THE 1 |
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| 62 | 62 | | S |
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| 63 | 63 | | ECURITIES ANDEXCHANGECOMMISSION.—Section 10A 2 |
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| 64 | 64 | | of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78j– 3 |
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| 65 | 65 | | 1) is amended by adding at the end the following: 4 |
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| 66 | 66 | | ‘‘(n) A |
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| 67 | 67 | | UDITORINDEPENDENCE FOR CERTAINPAST 5 |
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| 68 | 68 | | A |
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| 69 | 69 | | UDITSOCCURRINGBEFORE ANISSUERISAPUBLIC 6 |
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| 70 | 70 | | C |
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| 71 | 71 | | OMPANY.—With respect to an issuer that is a public 7 |
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| 72 | 72 | | company or an issuer that has filed a registration state-8 |
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| 73 | 73 | | ment to become a public company, the auditor independ-9 |
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| 74 | 74 | | ence rules established by the Commission under the securi-10 |
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| 75 | 75 | | ties laws with respect to audits occurring before the last 11 |
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| 76 | 76 | | fiscal year of the issuer completed before the issuer filed 12 |
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| 77 | 77 | | a registration statement to become a public company shall 13 |
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| 78 | 78 | | treat an auditor as independent if— 14 |
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| 79 | 79 | | ‘‘(1) the auditor is independent under standards 15 |
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| 80 | 80 | | established by the American Institute of Certified 16 |
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| 81 | 81 | | Public Accountants applicable to certified public ac-17 |
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| 82 | 82 | | countants in United States; or 18 |
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| 83 | 83 | | ‘‘(2) with respect to a foreign issuer, the audi-19 |
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| 84 | 84 | | tor is independent under comparable standards ap-20 |
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| 85 | 85 | | plicable to certified public accountants in the issuer’s 21 |
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| 86 | 86 | | home country.’’. 22 |
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| 87 | 87 | | Æ |
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| 88 | 88 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:52 Apr 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2606.IH H2606 |
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| 89 | 89 | | kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS |
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