II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1526 

To amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to prohibit the Public Company 

Accounting Oversight Board from requiring public companies to use 

specific auditors or require the use of different auditors on a rotating 

basis. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 

Mr. TOOMEY (for himself and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 to prohibit the 

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board from requiring public companies to use specific auditors or require the use of different auditors on a rotating basis. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Audit Integrity and 

5 Job Protection Act’’. 


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•S 1526 IS

1 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY RELATING TO AUDI2 TORS. 

3 Section 103 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 

4 U.S.C. 7213) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(e) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY.—The Board shall 

7 have no authority under this title to require that audits 

8 conducted for a particular issuer in accordance with the 

9 standards set forth under this section be conducted by spe10 cific registered public accounting firms, or that such au11 dits be conducted for an issuer by different registered pub12 lic accounting firms on a rotating basis.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. STUDY OF MANDATORY ROTATION OF REGISTERED 

14 PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRMS. 

15 (a) STUDY AND REVIEW REQUIRED.—The Comp16 troller General of the United States shall update its No17 vember 2003 report entitled ‘‘Study on the Potential Ef18 fects of Mandatory Audit Firm Rotation’’, and review the 

19 potential effects, including the costs and benefits, of re20 quiring the mandatory rotation of registered public ac21 counting firms. In addition, the update shall include a 

22 study of— 

23 (1) whether mandatory rotation of registered 

24 public accounting firms would mitigate against po25 tential conflicts of interest between registered public 

26 accounting firms and issuers; 


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1 (2) whether mandatory rotation of registered 

2 public accounting firms would impair audit quality 

3 due to the loss of industry or company-specific 

4 knowledge gained by a registered public accounting 

5 firm through years of experience auditing the issuer; 

6 and 

7 (3) what affect the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 

8 has had on registered public accounting firms’ inde9 pendence and whether additional independence re10 forms are needed. 

11 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 1 year after 

12 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

13 shall submit a report to the Committee on Banking, Hous14 ing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee 

15 on Financial Services of the House of Representatives on 

16 the results of the study and review required by this sec17 tion. 

18 (c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

19 term ‘‘mandatory rotation’’ refers to the imposition of a 

20 limit on the period of years in which a particular reg21 istered public accounting firm may be the auditor of 

22 record for a particular issuer. 

Æ 


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