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To: Dealer who wrote (54124)	7/27/2002 3:36:08 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

Poll: CEOs should pay for this mess Respondents see need for criminal penalties By James B. Arndorfer Crain's Chicago Business July 22, 2002 Executives who commit financial fraud should get hit in their pocketbooks, according to respondents to a Crain's online poll. Nearly 93% of respondents say corporate officers who prospered by reporting false information about their companies' finances should forfeit their gains to employees whose jobs disappeared because of executive misconduct. Also, more than 94% of respondents want corporate officers to face criminal penalties if their companies are found guilty of financial reporting fraud. The poll results reflect public anger over the recent wave of corporate scandals that have destroyed tens of thousands of jobs, vaporized billions of dollars in market capitalization and shriveled retirement plans. Fully 65% of respondents blame the mess on CEOs, and just over 22% blame auditors. The unscientific poll, conducted last week on ChicagoBusiness.com, Crain's Web site, drew 823 responses. "People are angry," says Charles Elson, director of the Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware in Newark, Del. "Unjust, fraudulent self-enrichment gets them angry." Besides anger, fear emerges from the responses, as people expect more companies to join Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. in the scandal coverage. Nearly 81% of respondents expect more corporate scandals involving major companies to emerge over the next few months. And nearly 46% say they will undermine investor confidence, which is already crumbling, while 23% fear they will stall the U.S. economic recovery. If corporate scandals and the attendant plunge in the stock market frighten businesses and consumers enough, the economy could take another hit. "Both corporate managers and households (could) become more risk-averse," says Paul Kasriel, chief economist at Chicago's Northern Trust Co. "That could lead to "a slowdown in spending." Because millions of people have seen their 401(k) or pension accounts shrink, politicians are expected to harp on the scandals in the upcoming elections. Nearly 57% of respondents expect that corporate abuse and how to fix it will be a hot election issue. That could be bad news for Republicans, seen as the traditional ally of big business, says Alan Gitelson, a political science professor at Chicago's Loyola University. Democrats plan to make hay with the issue. "The Republicans are going to be in a defensive position," he says. But Mr. Gitelson says it's much too early to say which party will end up with the majority in the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. It's also too early to predict whether Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt — criticized for his close ties to the accounting industry — will keep his job. A narrow majority of poll respondents — just over 51% — say Mr. Pitt should step down. Despite calls for reform — nearly 73% of respondents want auditors to be prohibited from doing any consulting work for audit clients — more than 54% believe business leaders should take charge of closing the corporate credibility gap. A little more than 22% say Congress should take the point, and 10% say President George W. Bush should lead reform efforts. Indeed, Jerome Castellini, president of Chicago-based investment firm CastleArk Management LLC, says the market will regulate corporate governance and accountability, because having been burned, it will demand that managers make their accounting and earnings more understandable to investors. "The market will pay higher (prices) for more transparency," Mr. Castellini says. "(Managers) will push their companies to make everything as transparent as possible." ©2002 by Crain Communications Inc. chicagobusiness.com

To: Dealer who wrote (54124)	7/30/2002 7:26:11 PM
From: Dealer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

ORCL--Oracle CEO, CFO vouch for software firm's numbers REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., July 30 (Reuters) - Larry Ellison, chief executive and co-founder of Oracle Corp.(NasdaqNM:ORCL - News), on Tuesday joined a short list of corporate chieftains who have personally certified the accuracy of their companies' financial statements. The move comes ahead of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Aug. 14 deadline requiring chief executives to vouch for their reported numbers in the wake of several high-profile corporate collapses due to shoddy or misleading accounting practices. Jeff Henley, the No. 2 software maker's chief financial officer, also certified the company's numbers in Tuesday's filing with the SEC. Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle on Monday filed the results for its fiscal year ended May 31 with the SEC. Chief executives from auto parts supplier Delphi (NYSE:DPH - News), soft drink giant PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP - News), computer services titan Electronic Data Systems (NYSE:EDS - News), and express shipper FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX - News) also have certified their results ahead of the SEC's deadline.