Angered Bush to give speech on corporate reforms
Reuters Market News
biz.yahoo.com
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, angered at relentless scandals in U.S. boardrooms, will use his Saturday radio address and a July 9 speech in New York to urge Congress to approve his plan for corporate responsibility, a senior administration official said on Friday.
Bush has already proposed plans that if enacted, would ban corporate executives from profiting from erroneous financial statements. That was in response to the implosion last year of the Texas-based Enron Corp (Other OTC:ENRNQ.PK).
Now, with Worldcom (NasdaqNM:WCOME) only the latest in a series of examples of a lack of corporate responsibility, Bush will devote his radio address on Saturday to the subject.
He will travel to New York on July 9 to stress the need for better governing at the top level of American businesses and congressional approval allowing for better enforcement and rules to protect pensions, shareholders and employees.
"But it's also a higher calling than just new laws and new rules," said a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He's going to call on corporate America to live up to the standards that's has made our economic system the envy of the world. He will stress that fundamentally our economy is strong," the official said.
In recent months the ex-businessman Bush, as he reads the headlines detailing corporate scandals, has told friends and aides that he is "mad as hell at corporate America.
"The president is not only very interested in this issue but increasingly outraged," the official said.
The WorldCom scandal, rivaling last year's collapse of Enron, has reignited legislative efforts to tighten accounting standards and hold top company executives and investment houses accountable.
Lawmakers said they were angered and dismayed by the ever-lengthening parade of corporate scandals and the impact on the U.S. stock markets, consumer confidence and the economy.
10-POINT PLAN
In March, Bush outlined a 10-point plan that would require chief executives to attest personally each quarter to the accuracy of their financial statements and disclosures.
To punish accounting-related abuses, top executives would be forced to forfeit their bonuses and other compensation. In extreme cases, they could be barred from serving as officers or directors for other publicly held corporations.
And, under Bush's proposal, accounting firms would be subject to unprecedented oversight.
His plan would require top executives to disclose when they buy or sell company stock within two days of the transaction. Currently, executives can wait a year or more without disclosing personal transactions.
And he would also create a regulatory board to oversee accounting firms. It would be supervised by the Securities and Exchange Commission and dominated by members outside the accounting profession to ensure its independence.
"The president has been frustrated that the Congress has not acted on his proposal he outlined weeks ago. And the types of authority he has requested for the Securities and Exchange Commission is exactly what they need to pursue these cases that are under way right now," the official said.
"The president believes it is important they move quickly in enacting these things," the official said. |
