Cox: Independence of Accounting Standard Setters is Key

Excerpts from Speech by SEC Chairman Christopher Cox: Remarks Before the AICPA National Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments

If we learned one painful lesson from the events of the 1930s, and from the more recent scandals of the S&L crisis in the 1980s and Enron, WorldCom and the rest in the 1990s and the first part of this decade, it is how vitally important it is to protect the independence of accounting standard-setters and ensure that their work remains free of distortions from self-serving influences.

That priority must also be reflected in any regulatory reform undertaken by the next Congress and the new administration. Accounting standards-setting should remain an independent function, and regulatory oversight of the independent private-sector standard setter should not become entangled with the competing priorities of evaluating and addressing systemic risk. Accounting standards should not be viewed as a fiscal policy tool to stimulate or moderate economic growth, but rather as a means of producing neutral and objective measurements of the financial performance of public companies.

Accounting standards aren't just another financial rudder to be pulled when the economic ship drifts in the wrong direction. Instead they are the rivets in the hull, and you risk the integrity of the entire economy by removing them.

There are those who say that independent standard setting is important, and who will agree that private sector standard setting is preferable to ensure that the process is not detached from reality — but who nonetheless say that while these things are true in ordinary times, these are not ordinary times. Therefore, they argue for setting aside the normal approach to standard setting, which identifies issues for consideration, gives the public exposure documents, includes outreach efforts, and then solicits comments on the exposure documents, and finally considers all of the resulting comments in finalizing and issuing new accounting standards. All of that, they say, should be set aside and replaced with a quick fix, whether the standard setters agree or not.

This view gives short shrift not only to the principle of independence, but also to the credibility of the standard-setting process and investor confidence in it.

The truth is that the value of independent standard setting is greatest when the going gets tough. The more serious the stresses on the market, the more important it is to maintain investor confidence.

None of this is to say that standard-setters can or should turn a blind eye to the events in the world around us; or ignore the valid criticism and input of leaders in business, politics, and academia; or endlessly debate and deliberate instead of act when action is required. To the contrary, that is what the transparent process is for. It is meant to achieve results, and to keep standards current.

Standards must keep pace with the real world to stay relevant, and they must be refined over time to better address weaknesses, as we have recently seen with the problems in valuing assets in illiquid markets. I believe it is critical that FASB complete its analysis of the SEC's request for expeditious improvement in the impairment model in FAS 115, made formally last October, in accordance with its established independent standard-setting process.

As we have learned, illiquid markets bring new challenges to the measurement of fair value that could not have been fully appreciated in past years. These challenges have brought into focus the need for further work on improving the tools that companies have at their disposal to achieve transparent, decision-useful financial reporting.
The entire speech can be found here.