Political Quotes

“I include in the Record letters of opposition from Americans for Financial Reform, Public Citizen, and the SEC Investor Advocate. Americans for Financial Reform, Washington, DC, May 23, 2016. Dear Representative: On behalf of Americans for Financial Reform, we are writing to reiterate our opposition to H.R. 4139, the ``Fostering Innovation Act'' This legislation would double the length of the existing exemption from compliance with Sarbanes Oxley Section 404(b) for ``emerging growth companies'', from five years to ten years. The exemption granted in H.R. 4139 applies to companies with $50 million or less in annual gross revenues. Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley requires the auditor of a public company to attest to the accuracy of the company's financial reporting. This requirement was passed in response to the accounting scandals of the late 1990s, which revealed widespread deception and fraud in financial reporting. More recent research by the GAO has found that companies exempted from auditor attestation requirements have a higher frequency of accounting restatements, indicating that the financial reporting at such companies is deficient. Such accounting restatements are harmful both to investors and to the companies themselves, by virtue of making it harder to raise capital.…”