With less than two months left until Election Day, you might be wondering, “How much money have accounting firms been throwing around this election cycle?” No? Just me? Okay, then, well this should be fun.
Here’s what Open Secrets, a website run by the Center of Responsive Politics, has for contributions by the accounting industry’s political action committees so far:
As you see in the image, this data is based on the most recent Federal Election Commission filings available.
The $8.1 million in PAC contributions is already more than was paid in 2014 and 2012 and the portion going to Republicans (64%) is the highest it’s been since 2006. Of the big donors (i.e. $1M+), Deloitte gave the largest portion to Republicans, about 69%.
Each PAC has its own individual page (e.g. AICPA) that includes a summary, a list of recipients of the PAC’s money, the donors to the PAC, detailed expenditures plus other information. Twenty thousand dollars was the largest sum contributed. The PACs of the AICPA, Deloitte and PwC all gave $20k to at least one individual.
Comparatively speaking, the accounting industry hasn't given a lot to candidates. Open Secrets lumps accounting in the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate sector, and its contributions make up just over 10% of the total contributions of $75.4 million. Of that group, insurance has contributed the most, over $26 million. None of the PACs above break the top 20, although Deloitte is close.
We'll keep an eye on the activity leading up to Election Day, but in the meantime, feel free to peruse and point out anything interesting or discuss the activity in general.
