House Passes Sweeping FInancial Reform

The U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 11 adopted a sweeping financial regulatory reform bill, "The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009," by a vote of 223 to 202. The bill would create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, under which CPAs who provide financial planning, tax planning and tax return preparation, as well as financial literacy education to consumers, would not be subject to new and duplicative CFPA regulation under a provision won by the AICPA. In addition, the bill gives the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board authority to inspect or exempt auditors of introducing broker-dealers through a regulatory process and exempts non-accelerated filers with market values below $75 million from Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404(b) internal control  (Source:  The CPA Letter)

Now onto the Senate.  The Senate is working on its own version of the package.