• Monitor issues as they apply to the accounting industry, including Financial Services Regulatory Reform proposals and pending derivatives legislation. Monitor HR 1424, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
• HR 4318, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the penalty on the understatement of taxpayer's liability by tax return preparers
• HR 4173, Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009 Financial Services Regulatory Reform Senate Discussion Draft

Duration: November 1, 2007 to January 1, 2010

General Issues: Accounting, Financial Institutions/Investments/Securities, Taxation/Internal Revenue Code, Banking

Spending: about $96,000 (But it's complicated. Here's why.)

It can be tricky to figure out how much an organization spent on a particular lobbying engagement. The law only requires lobbyists to report the amount they were paid for federal lobbying each quarter rounded to the nearest $10,000—and if it's less than $3,000 in a given quarter (or less than $13,000 for organizations with in-house lobbyists), they don't have to disclose it at all. Plus, some organizations include spending that doesn’t belong in the report—for instance, money spent lobbying state governments or other legal work.

Agencies lobbied since 2007: House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Y Y