Even in the post-Sarbanes Oxley, post-Enron environment, accountants have continued to enjoy a solid reputation among the public, and among business decision makers. That’s a testament to your integrity and professional competence. Business executives — your clients — give you a favorability rating of 95%. At the SEC, where we’re focused on investor protection, we’re most impressed that investors give you a favorability rating of 97%. That’s as close to perfect as you’re likely to get in this life. None of this means that anyone in this room can afford to be complacent. You have a reputation, and a future, to protect. Together, we’ve all got to remain vigilant.
The role of the accounting profession, at its core, is parallel to that of the SEC. We both have the goal of ensuring full and accurate financial information is reported by companies. And in fact, given that the AICPA’s history dates back even further than the SEC’s, it was left for accountants to handle the Panic of 1884 on their own when this market crash hit the country.

Cox Remarks Before the AICPA National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments [SEC.gov]

Comments (20)

  1. Posted by RonBurgundy | December 9, 2008 at 2:24 PM

    NEEL KASHKARI IS NOTHING BUT A DIRTY CHAI WALLAH

  2. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 2:27 PM

    1

  3. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 2:45 PM

    Listen up bitches, who has the phone number for the new Car Czar? I might need a toe or maybe I’m out of gas; I’m not sure. Guess I’m walking from hear. And stop posting Gasbag’s number. I won’t fall for it this time.
    SPODE

  4. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 2:56 PM

    Andy Tim

  5. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 3:09 PM

    Does anyone have the newest “equities meat stick” Andrew Timber’s email?

  6. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 3:18 PM

    Blowtard!

  7. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 3:32 PM

    No comment.

  8. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 3:37 PM

    Unless you’re hired as a backup accounting firm to give a solvency opinion to an LBO of a monopolistic telco when your competitor issued an insolvent opinion.
    “Hey dad, can I have the car?” “What did your mother say” “Uh, nevermind”

  9. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 3:45 PM

    AMT = BofA

  10. Posted by Anal_yst | December 9, 2008 at 3:53 PM

    AHAHAHAHAHAHAH
    The accountants and auditors who missed, or lacked the knowledge, expertise, and/or integrity to find all of the BS on Wall Street’s books (not to mention helped put some of it there) for the past few years? Yes, pat yourselves on the back some more, have a celebratory cigar while you’re at it.

  11. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 4:02 PM

    No one will ever convince me that the SEC wasn’t aware of most of the problems that lead to the current problems within the industry. The problem is that the SEC simply doesn’t want to get involved with most of the shenanigans going on in the financial markets. There is no watchdog overseeing our nation’s financial markets.
    In order to clean up the mess that is our financial system, Congress has to restructure the SEC so it is a viable watchdog and then it needs to overhaul FINRA’s oversight and enforcement functions. FINRA arbitration is a freaking joke and the FINRA auditors are clueless.

  12. Posted by Lowly Assistant | December 9, 2008 at 4:16 PM

    12,
    Why would they ever want to get their hands dirty when they can wait for the eventual blowup(s), collect further funding to build the organization, receive applause for 3 months of “work,” before letting the cycle continue.
    The SEC has EDGAR, and that’s really all she wrote. Oh yeah, and vacuous bans on techniques that actually “promote transparency.”

  13. Posted by Debter | December 9, 2008 at 4:39 PM

    This is the problem with most government (@13), they are there to entrench themselves and rarely perform any valuable function. Not all government, but most.

  14. Posted by Anal_yst | December 9, 2008 at 5:05 PM

    @ Debter
    The same can be said of corporate management. Witness it every day.
    Incentive structures, in general, are fuxored and FUBAR throughout the system.

  15. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 6:18 PM

    12 – The SEC came up with policies as it was requested. Then, when the markets went in the shitter, it was the SEC’s fault. Fuck you.

  16. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 6:42 PM

    The decision to allow banks to ‘off balance sheet’ risk exposures was an active one taken at board level
    The decision to allow them to do so and pretend there had been ‘risk transference’ was an active decision taken at Audit Partner level.
    Let them all hang

  17. Posted by Anal_yst | December 9, 2008 at 7:56 PM

    One last time for those playing the home game.
    Everyone @ the party f*cked up (with relatively little exception).
    Assigning blame or scapegoating is a waste of time, effort, etc. Admitting mistakes, taking necessary action to fix them (read: putting pride aside), and moving forward is what we need to be doing.

  18. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 11:17 PM

    jerk off to quality porn on http://www.mpegmovieheaven.com

  19. Posted by guest | December 9, 2008 at 11:24 PM

    O——————————!——————————O

  20. Posted by guest | December 10, 2008 at 4:52 PM

    @18 – Good to see someone with some common sense. I’m tired of this “LOL teh SEC is full of fail” BS

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