For Immediate Release: August 13, 2002

For More Information: Ed Mierzwinski, 202-546-9707 Other contact info.

A Good First Step On A Long Road To Corporate Reform: Statement of U.S. PIRG Consumer Program Director Edmund Mierzwinski On August 14th Deadline For CEOs To Certify Books

Tomorrow’s deadline for CEOs to sign on the dotted line that their books aren’t cooked offers investors a good first step on what will be a long road to corporate reform.

While it’s certainly important for investor confidence for CEOs to certify the lack of accounting shenanigans, October 28th is a much more critical deadline. That’s when the SEC must announce its five inaugural appointees to the new independent accounting oversight board established as the centerpiece of the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting and corporate reform bill signed into law last month.

U.S. PIRG and other leading public interest groups sent SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt a letter this week urging him to go beyond the minimum requirements of the new law to ensure that the SEC chooses investor watchdogs over corporate lapdogs.

On June 27, the SEC issued an order requiring the CEOs and Chief Financial Officers of the nation’s 947 largest publicly traded companies to certify their periodic financial reports, generally effective August 14th. Under several sections of the new law, Congress expanded the requirement to include all 14,000 publicly-traded companies and substantially increased penalties for violations. The SEC must appoint the five members, including three non-accountants, of the new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board not later than 90 days after signing of the new law (July 30th).

U.S. PIRG is the national lobbying office for the state Public Interest Research Groups. State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy groups.

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