美国证券交易委员会 VS 注册会计师
Jim McTague

如果马克.吐温还在世的话，毫无疑问他会将他那句名言“谎言，该死的谎言和统计学”修改为“谎言，该死的谎言、统计学和年度报告”。近来有那么多不规范的报告，以至于证券交易委员会不得不破天荒地成立一个专门内部小组来对付那些不法的会计师。

证券交易委员会暗示这次调整提案对注册会计师行业将是苦中有甜。

先看一下苦在何处：会计公司将不能向其审计客户提供某些高价咨询服务。

五大中的安永和普华永道据此已经从其审计客户中放弃了一些咨询业务。然而那些视咨询及相关业务为其收入主要来源的公司正在计划如何反对这项提案。证券交易委员会预计安达信、德勤和毕马威将在国会山上极力反对此项提案。

再看一下甜在哪里：证券交易委员会将提议修订其关于合伙人及其家属成员的股票所有权的有关严格规定。



THE SEC VERSUS CPAs;
by Jim McTague

If Mark Twain were alive today, no doubt he would amend his famous gibe about "lies, damned lies and statistics" to include "annual reports" . . . . There have been so many high-profile reporting irregularities that the SEC recently took the unprecedented step of forming an in-house posse to go after outlaw accountants. Sheriff [Arthur] Levitt is intent on cleaning up the profession before he rides out of town after the presidential election. . . .

The SEC''s suggested regulatory upgrades would be a big and bitter pill for the profession, accompanied by a spoonful of sugar.

Let''s begin with the bitter pill: Accounting firms would have to stop cross-selling some big-ticket consulting services to audit customers. . . .

Two of the Big Five firms . . . Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, have seen the handwriting on the wall and unhitched their consulting operations from their auditing wagons. Then again, there are firms that view consulting and other products as so crucial to their financial future, they are planning a showdown on the proposal. The SEC expects Arthur Andersen, Deloitte & Touch and KPMG to fight the measure on Capitol Hill.

Now for the spoonful of sugar: The SEC will propose a rewrite of its stringent rules on stock ownership by partners and their family members.