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Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Did I mention that Harvey Pitt is still on the job? It shows...
The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission plans to recommend that the agency soften proposed rules that would impose new obligations on lawyers and accountants, government officials said today.
snip
Earlier proposals had been intended to instill investor confidence by imposing the new regulations. The rules would have required corporate lawyers, for instance, to report to regulators if they failed to persuade managers to fix potential securities law violations. The proposals would also have restricted accountants from auditing the same tax shelters they created. And corporations would have been required to spell out in more precise detail how much they paid their accounting firms for auditing and consulting services
But some of the toughest proposals appear to be dead, watered down or postponed, S.E.C. officials said today. Critics attributed the shift to heavy lobbying from prominent law firms, bar associations and some leading accounting firms and trade groups.
"This is very disappointing," said Lynn Turner, a former chief accountant at the commission during the Clinton administration who is now a professor of accounting at Colorado State University. "We've had Enron, Tyco, WorldCom. We've had the most tumultuous year ever in corporate America. And despite all of that, the commission is softening, rather than toughening, the rules in favor of the attorneys and auditors to the great detriment of investors. To me, it's just amazing."
Officials said the provisions had been changed from earlier drafts after meetings with the commissioners, including Harvey L. Pitt, who has remained as chairman of the agency more than two months after announcing his resignation. Last month, President Bush announced his selection of William H. Donaldson to succeed Mr. Pitt, but Mr. Donaldson has yet to be nominated formally for the post.
Mr. Pitt played an active role in drafting the new rules. Before his resignation, he was the subject of intense criticism from members of Congress, who said his actions suggested that he remained too close to his former clients in the accounting business.
Officials say the commission will table the requirement that lawyers make a public or "noisy" withdrawal from their clients if they fail to persuade the company to fix potential securities law violations. The S.E.C. staff plans to back away from proposals that would have restricted accountants from providing advice on tax shelters for the clients they audit. It is also preparing to weaken — indirectly — existing rules requiring public companies to disclose how much they pay to accountants for auditing services and consulting services, the officials said.
I think I smell Paul Krugman's next column....
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