While SEC chairmen have long contended the agency’s budget doesn’t cost taxpayers money since it comes from transaction and registration fees, the committee argued investors and companies are harmed because every dollar spent to fund the SEC means one dollar less spent on capital formation.
Noting increased computer spending has helped the regulator, the committee faulted the SEC for failing to set up a single system to allow staffers to review broker-dealer Focus reports on their net capital positions and investment advisor Forms ADV.
The committee, which has been no champion of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, praised the agency in the report for actions to protect service members.
But on the attack, the review described the regulator’s $582 million for the current year and $606 million for the next as “excessive.”