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A good CEO and board understand the need to emphasize positive values, and to live by the principles they speak about. The tone at the top really does matter, and [...]

STATEMENT OF ARTHUR LEVITT When I last appeared before this committee, I focused my remarks on the main causes of the crisis we are in and the significant role played [...]

Among the corporate scandals which have rocked American business, WorldCom stands out as possibly being the biggest in monetary terms, including the largest single accounting fraud in U.S. history. In [...]

When it comes to corporate reporting, everyone has an opinion. Businesses contend that reporting standards are too complicated and costly, or that they create burdens that handicap them in international [...]

Presents a speech by Richard C. Breeden, Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, delivered before the Commonwealth Club of California, September 28, 1990. The necessity for capital in keeping the United States competitive globally; How to ensure that the U.S. remains successful and prosperous in the 1990s and beyond; Policies toward competition and concentration; Unfavorable cost of capital in the U.S.

There is a risk that boards and managers will spend too much time thinking about the formalistic aspects of regulations, and too little thinking about basic principles and values. A [...]

Proposals would require boards to set forth the performance factors relied on in making incentive compensation awards. The problem is that there are too many cases of a company with [...]

During my tenure at the Securities and Exchange Commission, we spent large amounts of time working with the Financial Accounting Standards Board to drag the accounting and disclosure rules for [...]

A corporate culture can seek to articulate and to foster values such as operating a strong internal control system, discussing results and risks candidly, and acting with integrity and ethics [...]

The article refers to an article by Michael Porter that was published in the September-October 1992 issue and comments on the American style of corporate governance. The argument is that managers are restricted by the demands of capital markets and an attitude of short-termism. Topics include the idea that stock prices can reflect the long-term payoff on investments, the need to strengthen corporate accountability and corporate democracy, and the long-term aspect of governance systems in Japan and Germany.

This section presents a letter to the editor in response to "Will New Blood Improve SEC's Circulation?," in the May 10, 1993 issue.

Calls for the improvement in the administration of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Need to increase accounting resources; Reasons for the need to increase budget for the commission; Recommendation from Chairman Harvey Pitt for auditors and accounting firms.