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The
Corporate Reform Weekly:
Citizen Works' look at the Campaign
for Corporate Reform
March 25, 2002
1) The week in Washington
(a summary of post-Enron reform and rhetoric)
2) News and views
3) Public opinion
4) Action items and how to make your voice heard
THE WEEK IN WASHINGTON:
Quick Summary
Senate
Government Affairs Committee
The Enron investigation continues - and now Congress wants to see what role
the White House played . The Senate Government Affairs Committee has
begun looking into what kind of relationship Enron and Arthur Andersen had with
the Bush administration. The Committee, headed by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman
(D-CT) has issued 29 subpoenas to current and former Enron and Arthur Andersen
employees, calling for documents regarding White House communications.
What Lieberman had
to say:
"We are trying to be as thorough as we can, to turn over every stone we can
turn over to understand what government agencies knew about Enron's practices
and whether there was anything they could have, or should have done to prevent
the company's collapse."
For the complete story, click here.
On the legislative side, The parade of post-Enron reforms continued last week.
Pension
Reform
So far, pension reform has made the most progress of all post-Enron reforms.
Last week, two bills passed through committee.
In the House, the Education and the Workforce committee approved H.R. 3762, the Pension Security Act of 2002. The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), is the House version of Bush's pension plan. It stresses investment education, requires 30-day notification of any "blackout" periods, prevents insiders from selling during "blackouts," and allows employees to diversify matching company stock after three years, among other things. Last week, the House Ways and Means committee approved a similar bill, H.R. 3669. Congressional Quarterly reports that the committees will work through the Easter recess to reconcile the slightly differing bills.
In the Senate, meanwhile, the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee approved S. 1992, Protecting America's Pensions Act of 2002. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), calls for stronger measures to ensure that employees diversify their retirement portfolios - employers would have to choose between matching contributions in company stock or allowing investments in company stock. Kennedy's bill also calls for immediate disclosure of insider trading, requires employers to take out insurance to protect the retirement interests of plan participants and their beneficiaries, and establishes an Office of Pension Participant Advocacy through the Labor Department to evaluate pension plans, among other things.
Another pension reform bill, S. 2032 (The Investor-Employees Need Financial Facts and Options for Responsible Retirement Plan Management (INFORM) Act of 2002), was introduced last week by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL). Like Kennedy's Bill, Durbin's bill requires employers to take out insurance to protect the retirement interests of plan participants and their beneficiaries and establishes an Office of Pension Participant Advocacy through the Labor Department to evaluate pension plans. Durbin's bill also calls for employees to be regularly updated on their retirement plans and for employers to be liable for any "excessive" losses on employer securities during "blackout" periods. "Blackout" periods would require 60 days of advance notice. Durbin's bill does not call for caps on investments - rather it calls for a study on caps. It also calls for a study into insurance systems for individual account plans.
Stock
Options Reform
In the area of stock options, Rep. Pete Stark introduced H.R.
4075, "End the Double Standards for Stock Options Act." Like its counterpart
bill in the Senate (S. 1940, introduced by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John
McCain (R-AZ)), Stark's bill would effectively eliminate a tax loophole and
force companies to report stock option expenses as a loss on their financial
reports if they want a tax deduction for the cost of those stock options.
What Rep. Stark had
to say:
"The evidence is clear: this loophole should be closed. My bill…is a much-needed
fix to help prevent companies from misrepresenting their financial status to
stockholders and employees."
Derivates
Regulation
In the area of derivates regulation, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), introduced
H.R. 4038, the Market Oversight Consolidation and OTC Regulation Act.
DeFazio's bill would fuse the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into a new regulatory body
- the Securities and Derivatives Oversight Commission (SDOC). The idea is that
one body can more easily coordinate regulation than two.
What DeFazio had
to say:
"It's clear that the relentless drive to deregulate financial markets has left
investors and consumers vulnerable. Consolidating and strengthening federal
regulation of derivatives and other financial products and players will ensure
our free capitalists markets worth as Adam Smith envisioned."
Other
legislative action last week:
Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN) introduced S. 2050, A bill
to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat companies that incorporate
in an off-shore tax haven without moving their operations off-shore as domestic
companies for tax purposes.
Rep. Armory Houghton Jr. (R-NY) introduced H.R. 4047, A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to simplify certain rules relating to the taxation of United States businesses operating abroad, and for other purposes.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) introduced S. 2056, A bill to ensure the independence of accounting firms that provide auditing services to publicly traded companies and of executives, audit committees, and financial compensation committees of such companies, and for other purposes.
Pitt
lashes out at Sarbanes
Harvey Pitt lashed out at Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) during a Senate
Banking Committee hearing last Thursday after the Senator asked him whether
he had consulted anyone outside the accounting profession before introducing
his proposed auditor-oversight changes.
Pitt, a former lawyer for all five of the big accounting firms, spent five minutes accusing the media of misrepresenting his plan, accusing his critics for harping on his past ties to the accounting industry, but didn't bother to answer the question.
So the question remains
as to whether Pitt has done anything more to seek advice on reform than to call
up the chief executives of the Big Five accounting firms and tell them they
needed to come up with a plan to restore investor confidence. Pitt has also
spoken out against a proposal that would prevent accounting firms from providing
audit and non-audit services in the same year.
from the Wall Street Journal, March 22, C1
Click here to view Citizen Works' complete summary of post-Enron legislation.
NEWS AND VIEWS:
Executive Privilege? Here's the New Take on Stock Options: They Reward Corporate Leaders for All the Wrong Things.
By STEVEN PEARLSTEIN, Washington Post
Recent history shows that share-price obsession has driven some executives to improperly, and perhaps illegally, misrepresent their companies' financial condition to investors, who later lost many millions when the true picture was revealed. But even at companies that have continued to prosper, executives report that the general fixation on daily and weekly stock-price movements drives them to manage for the short term, sacrificing the long-term interest of shareholders and employees…Over the past 20 years, as American capitalism has morphed into shareholder capitalism, virtually all the incentives and disincentives that have been brought to bear on the executive suite are linked directly or indirectly to short-term movements in the company stock price.
401(k): The fatal flaw Only post-Enron have people come to understand the dangers of company stock.
By PENELOPE WANG, Money Magazine
…In reality, the evidence for wealth building is mixed at best. On average the typical 401(k) company stock delivers a return in line with the S&P 500's -- but at above-average risk. For every big gainer like Citigroup (up 94 percent over the past three years), there has been a disaster like Owens-Corning (down 95 percent). But the benefits for company management are very clear. For starters, companies receive tax breaks for making contributions to 401(k)s, in either cash or stock, and a tax law change last year increased tax deductions on the dividends paid on company stock held in ESOPs.
….As for investor choice, let's get real -- when it comes to company stock, most participants are facing a stacked deck. Repeated studies have shown that investors don't understand the risk of owning company stock.
Calls for Lawyers
to Blow the Whistle Enron's collapse increases pressure on the legal profession
to allow lawyers to report clients' financial misdeeds.
By LISA GIRION, Los Angeles Times
With the House and Senate expected to begin work soon on accounting bills, the profession is stepping up its lobbying efforts. The industry's main trade group, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) launched a multimillion-dollar campaign this week, declaring in newspaper and radio advertisements that the profession was "passionate about getting it right" and "intolerant of those who break the rules."
The group also has been sending e-mails to several thousand of its small practice members urging them to contact Congress about what it dubbed "the cascading effect" of reform.
Rough waters ahead for offshore banking: Sept. 11 attacks, Enron collapse have led to more calls for reform
By TOD ROBBERSON, Dallas Morning News
Stung by the collapse of Enron Corp. and Sept. 11, the offshore financial services business is bracing for hard times and unprecedented scrutiny… And as Washington enacts increasingly stringent disclosure rules, the lure of financial secrecy and protection from Uncle Sam is rapidly dwindling, offshore executives say… The sums involved are huge, the scope wide. "Nearly 60 jurisdictions, scattered around the globe, comprise the constantly expanding offshore financial services sector," according to a 2001 State Department report.
Is Andersen Too Rich for Justice?
by Molly Ivins, Common Dreams
Gee, what a shame about Arthur Andersen. And it's going to make such a big mess, too. But wouldn't you like to hear the arguments being made in defense of Andersen destroying documents put forward in a Texas courtroom, just to see what would happen? "My client deserves another chance, your honor. Arthur Dwayne has learned his lesson this time and will never, ever steal again, and besides, he's real sorry now. I ask for a suspended sentence on grounds of the terrible harm this will do to all of Arthur Dwayne's extended family."
…The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, 700 per 100,000 citizens. According to the Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., in Canada and European countries, the rate ranges from 80 to 121 per 100,000. To anyone but a Wall Street Journal editor, the question would be, why do the rich get away with stealing millions while the poor go to prison for stealing TVs?
PUBLIC OPINION
According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 58% of respondents believe that most business executives try to find a way around the laws governing their profession.
Additionally, 63% said that the recent Enron case is a sign that morals in American business have been declining in the last few years.
The poll also found that 66% of respondents either have a low opinion of heads of major corporations (50%) or a very low opinion of the heads of major corporation (16%). Of those surveyed, 64% have either a low opinion of members of large corporations' boards of directors (46%) or a very low opinion.
According to a survey of analysts and fund managers by Broadgate Consultants, Inc. Over 80% of respondents said corporate executives placed their personal interests before those of shareholders. Only 20% declared high confidence in the integrity of corporate leaders in the US.
Nearly 80% of the investors support preventing external auditors from offering consulting services. More than 75% of the investors are in favor of President Bush's plan for an independent accounting regulatory body.
A Citigate Dewe Rogerson poll of 50 analysts and fund managers half of the respondents believed government regulation was the only solution to accounting problems. Additionally, 20% said new rules required improved transparency from firms, while 26% said corporate self-monitoring was sufficient.
The survey also found that 59% of the respondents believed Enron's accounting problems were not especially common. The remaining 41% said Enron's problems were more widespread.
One out of three respondents said they had found problem companies in their own portfolios in the wake of Enron. They were particularly anxious about the telecommunications, energy, biotech, and banking industries.
THIS WEEK'S ACTION ITEM
This April 6th is Big Business Day. So far, almost 100 events are planned across the country -- from Hawaii to Georgia to Puerto Rico. Citizen Works is offering a free Big Business Day Packet to everyone promising to plan a local action or event. The packet includes t-shirts, stickers, buttons, posters, and a full-sized flag with corporate logos in place of stars. To make planning easier, Citizen Works has created a step-by-step guidebook explaining how to run your own teach-in, rally, press conference, or public discussion.
Check our Big Business webpage to see if there's an event planned for your community. If not, add your own -- and stand up to corporate power.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
White House Comment Line
- (202) 456-1111
White House Fax Line - (202) 456-2461
US Capitol Switchboard - (202) 224-3121
President George W.
Bush's e-mail - president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President
Dick Cheney's e-mail - vice-president@whitehouse.gov
White House Address - 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC 20500
Contact your senators
Contact your representative
Visit Working Assets webpage and sign a petition to tell President Bush to donate his $550,000 share of Enron's ill-gotten gains to funds, such as the Enron Employee Transition Fund and REACH, that benefit the company's employees who lost their retirement savings and provide relief to low-income consumers in California, who can't afford to pay for their basic energy needs. Click here for more information.
Working Assets is also calling for Kenneth Lay to donate the millions he made in selling Enron stock to funds that repair some of the damage he wrought. Click here for more information.
Join the AFL-CIO's fax campaign asking Enron and corporate creditors Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of New York to support full severance packages for laid-off Enron workers.
Sign an electronic petition calling for the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor on Enron at Democrats.com and Moveon.org
Call your congressman in support of House Resolution 333, which calls for a special prosecutor on Enron.
Know
of another way to make your voice heard?
e-mail Lee Drutman
Comments, suggestions, or to unsubscribe e-mail Lee Drutman.
Copyright © 2001 Citizen Works