§ 79o. — Accounts and records.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC79o]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 2C--PUBLIC UTILITY HOLDING COMPANIES
Sec. 79o. Accounts and records
(a) Duty of holding companies to keep
Every registered holding company and every subsidiary company
thereof shall make, keep, and preserve for such periods, such accounts,
cost-accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda, papers, books,
and other records as the Commission deems necessary or appropriate in
the public interest or for the protection of investors or consumers or
for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter or the rules,
regulations, or orders thereunder.
(b) Duty of affiliates to keep
Every affiliate of a registered holding company or of any subsidiary
company thereof, or of any public-utility company engaged in interstate
commerce or not so engaged, shall make, keep, and preserve for such
periods, such accounts, cost-accounting procedures, correspondence,
memoranda, papers, books, and other records relating to any transaction
of such affiliate which is subject to any provision of this chapter or
any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, as the Commission deems
necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of
investors or consumers or for the enforcement of the provisions of this
chapter or the rules, regulations, or orders thereunder.
(c) Duty of mutual service companies to keep
Every mutual service company, and every affiliate of a mutual
service company as to any transaction of such affiliate which is subject
to any provision of this chapter or any rule, regulation, or order
thereunder, shall make, keep, and preserve for such periods, such
accounts, cost-accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda, papers,
books, and other records, as the Commission deems necessary or
appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors or
consumers or for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter or
the rules, regulations, or orders thereunder.
(d) Duty of persons engaged in service, sales, or construction to keep
Every person whose principal business is the performance of service,
sales, or construction contracts for public-utility or holding companies
shall make, keep, and preserve for such periods, such accounts, cost-
accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda, papers, books, and
other records, relating to any transaction by such person which is
subject to any provision of this chapter or any rule, regulation, or
order thereunder, as the Commission deems necessary or appropriate in
the public interest or for the protection of investors or consumers or
for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter or the rules and
regulations thereunder.
(e) Use of forms other than prescribed by Commission unlawful
After the Commission has prescribed the form and manner of making
and keeping accounts, cost-accounting procedures, correspondence,
memoranda, papers, books, and other records to be kept by any person
hereunder, it shall be unlawful for any such person to keep any
accounts, cost-accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda, papers,
books, or other records other than those prescribed or such as may be
approved by the Commission, or to keep his or its accounts, cost-
accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda, papers, books, or
other records in any manner other than that prescribed or approved by
the Commission.
(f) Examinations by Commission
All accounts, cost-accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda,
papers, books, and other records kept or required to be kept by persons
subject to any provision of this section shall be subject at any time
and from time to time to such reasonable periodic, special, and other
examinations by the Commission, or any member or representative thereof,
as the Commission may prescribe. The Commission, after notice and
opportunity for hearing, may prescribe the account or accounts in which
particular outlays, receipts, and other transactions shall be entered,
charged, or credited and the manner in which such entry, charge, or
credit shall be made, and may require an entry to be modified or
supplemented so as properly to show the cost of any asset or any other
cost.
(g) Submission by holding company or subsidiary to examination by
holders of securities
It shall be the duty of every registered holding company and of
every subsidiary company thereof and of every affiliate of a company
insofar as such affiliate is subject to any provision of this chapter or
any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, to submit the accounts, cost-
accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda, papers, books, and
other records of such holding company, subsidiary company, or affiliate,
as the case may be, to such examinations, in person or by duly appointed
attorney, by the holder of any security of such holding company,
subsidiary company, or affiliate, as the case may be, as the Commission
deems necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the
protection of investors or consumers.
(h) Submission by mutual service companies and persons engaged in
rendering service to examination by other companies
It shall be the duty of every mutual service company, and of every
affiliate of a mutual service company, and of every person whose
principal business is the performance of service, sales, or construction
contracts for public-utility or holding companies, insofar as such
affiliate or such person is subject to any provision of this chapter or
any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, to submit the accounts, cost-
accounting procedures, correspondence, memoranda, papers, books, and
other records of such mutual service company, affiliate, or person to
such examinations, in person or by duly appointed attorney, by member
companies of such mutual service company and by public-utility or
holding companies for which such person performs service, sales, or
construction contracts as the Commission deems necessary or appropriate
in the public interest or for the protection of investors or consumers.
(i) Uniform methods for keeping accounts; power of Commission to
prescribe
The Commission, by such rules and regulations as it deems necessary
or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors
or consumers may prescribe for persons subject to the provisions of
subsections (a), (b), (c), or (d) of this section uniform methods for
keeping accounts required under any provision of this section,
including, among other things, the manner in which the cost of all
assets, whenever determinable, shall be shown, the methods of
classifying and segregating accounts, and the manner in which cost-
accounting procedures shall be maintained.
(Aug. 26, 1935, ch. 687, title I, Sec. 15, 49 Stat. 828.)
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions of Securities and Exchange Commission,
with certain exceptions, to Chairman of such Commission, see Reorg. Plan
No. 10 of 1950, Secs. 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3175, 64 Stat.
1265, set out under section 78d of this title.
