For purposes of this section, an SEC engagement is defined as one that involves the audit of the financial statements of—

1. An issuer making an initial filing, including amendments, under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
2. A registrant that files periodic reports with the SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (except a broker or dealer registered only because of section 15(a) of the 1934 Act).
3. A bank or other lending institution that files periodic reports with the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the Federal Home Loan Bank Board because the powers, functions, and duties of the SEC to enforce its periodic reporting provisions are vested, pursuant to section 12(i) of the 1934 Act, in those agencies. (Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 provides an exemption from periodic reporting to the SEC to [1] entities with less than $5 million in total assets on the last day of each of the entity's three most recent fiscal years and fewer than 500 shareholders and [2] entities with fewer than 300 shareholders. Accordingly, such entities are not encompassed within the scope of this definition.)
4. A company whose financial statements appear in the annual report or proxy statement of any investment fund because it is a sponsor or manager of such a fund, but which is not itself a registrant required to file periodic reports under the 1940 Act or section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.