The American Investment Accountability Act seeks to enhance transparency and monitoring of United States investments in entities controlled by foreign adversaries. It mandates comprehensive quarterly reports from the Secretaries of Commerce and the Treasury, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission, detailing financial flows to designated "countries of concern" and "covered entities." Countries of concern explicitly include nations like China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela, while covered entities are broadly defined as those with significant ties to these adversarial governments or appearing on sanctions lists.

The Secretary of Commerce is required to report on direct investments made by United States persons, disaggregating data by sector and state of origin, and accounting for investments routed through offshore financial centers. Concurrently, the Secretary of the Treasury will provide similar reports on portfolio investments, including initial public offerings and secondary market trading in covered entity securities. Both departments must identify individual transactions exceeding specified monetary thresholds, such as $5 million for direct investments and $10 million for portfolio investments.

Furthermore, the Securities and Exchange Commission must report on activities of covered United States businesses, including instances of spin-offs operating in countries of concern, joint ventures with covered entities, and mergers or acquisitions involving such entities. The SEC will also track expanded operations or direct investments by U.S. businesses in countries of concern that surpass certain financial limits. These detailed reports, initially covering a one-year period and subsequently every 90 days, are intended to provide appropriate congressional committees with critical information to assess and potentially address financial risks associated with foreign adversaries.