forgery insurance covering securities issues such as stocks and bonds. They protect the issuer of securities against forgery of the securities.

nonprofit corporation, established by Congress under the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970, that insures the securities and cash in the customer accounts of member brokerage firms against the failure of those firms. All brokers and dealers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and with national stock exchanges are required to be members of SIPC. The Corporation acts similarly to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures banks, and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF), which insures savings and loans. When a brokerage firm fails, SIPC will first try to merge it into another brokerage firm. If this fails, SIPC will liquidate the firm's assets and pay off account holders up to an overall maximum of $500,000 per customer, with a limit of $100,000 on cash or cash equivalents. SIPC does not protect investors against market risks.

federal government agency monitoring and regulating corporate financial reporting and disclosure, use of accounting principles, auditing practices, and trading activities. Its accounting series releases (ASRS) and Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) apply to publicly held companies. SEC requirements promote full disclosure to protect investor interests. For the most part, the SEC follows the accounting and auditing pronouncements of bodies organized by the public accounting profession. It therefore relies on the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the Committee on Auditing Procedure, and the auditing standards board (ASB).