Author:

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13: 1428945733

This report responds to a mandate in the Investor and Capital Markets Fee Relief Act (the Act) for GAO to study the implications of converting the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to a self-funded basis. Although SEC is fully funded through fees it collects, SEC's current funding structure differs from the Act's definition of self-funding. The Act defines self-funding as an authorization for SEC "to deposit the receipts of its collections in the Treasury of the United States, or in a depository institution, but such deposits are not treated as Government or appropriated monies, and are available for the salaries and other expenses of the Commission and its employees without annual appropriation or apportionment." Although SEC currently deposits its collected fees in the Treasury, where its deposits are treated as offsetting collections and not general funds of the Treasury, it cannot deposit its fees in a depository institution, and its monies are annually appropriated and apportioned. In this report, we refer to the Act's definition of self-funding as a self-controlled funding structure.