Show V 'r'- a - The Herald Journal Logan Utah Friday March 8 2002 —AS tfm loosCn ®aDDs - t Blue-chi- p clients jump the ship at Andersen President seeks greater corporate disclosure and accountability WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bushdemanding corporate responsibility amid the Enron bankruptcy scandal said Thursday the federal should strip company n chief executives bonuses and create an agency to monitor the accounting m gov-ernme- ofill-gotte- “A good business always respects the boundaries of right and wrong” he told business executive! Bush is pressuring companies to be more forthright with investors and for auditors to ' fair in their assessments the Enron bankrupt- which threatened to inflict cy political damage on the White House g The Houston-base- d has which company been Bush’s most generous corporate political backer hid more than $1 billion in debt and its auditors endorsed its financial statements Many investors have been unnerved by Enron’s collapse and distrustful of die accuracy of die financial reports of big companies in general con- tributing to a volatile stock market With Congress considering legislative action of its own Bush released a plan that bundled various proposals made recendy by die head of die Securities and Exchange Commission and by lawmakers “The Whole design of capitalism depends upon free people acting responsibility” Bush said at an awards ceremony “Business people must answer not just to die demands of the markets or but to die demands of conscience he energy-tradin- 10-poi- nt free-mark- et self-inter- said" Rep John LaFalce of New York senior Democrat on die House Financial Services Committee who has proposed legislation said Bush’s plan' does not go far enough “It falls far short of what is necessary" LaFalce said in a statement “I would hope that the president would work with the Congress on a bipartisan basis to put real teem into his proposal so we can guarantee substantive reform not mere cosmetics” Democratic Sins Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Jon Corzine of New Jersey put forward legislation Thursday that would among other thirigs bar accounting firms from also performing significant consulting services for companies whose books they ’ CHICAGO (AP) — Blue- -' chip corporations are joining the growing exodus of clients at Arthur Andersen LLP leading some experts to question whether the accounting giant can survive the Enron scandal Andersen is known to have lost about three dozen public companies as clients since the collapse of the Houston energy giant including Delta Air Lines on Thursday and Freddie Mac the day before Merck Inc and SunTrust Banks also recently dropped Andersen That is a small percentage of Andersen’s more than 2300 US public audit clients But experts say the quickening defections of large and influential companies could have fatal consequences for the accounting firm audit One of Bush’s proposals would create an independent regulatory board under the supervision of the SEC to develop standards of professional conduct and competence The board would monitor investigate and enforce its “ethics principles” by punishing offenders Congress die SEC and the Justice Department are investigating Enron and the role of its longtime auditor Arthur Andersen LLP in Enron’s collapse The company entered the biggest corporate bankruptcy in US history on Dec 2 Bush did not mention the Enron or Andersen but seemed to be speaking of die accounting fiqn when he mentioned auditing standards “We’ve seen lately just how important these standards are and the hium that can follow when they are ignored” he said SET Chairman Harvey Pitt who was appointed by Bush has proposed a new private-sector body to regulate the accounting profession Andersen spokesman AP photo President Bush looks over Ns glasses prior to remarks at the Malcolm Baktrige National Quality Award ceremony at the Washington Hilton on Thursday Bush demanding corporate responsibility amid the Enron bankruptcy scendal said the federal government should strip company chief executives of bonuses and create an agency to monitor the accounting industry watched over key issues for Enron? Ex-offic-ial WASHINGTON (AP) — Just before taking office former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers promised lating Summers on succeeding Robert Rubin as President Clinton’s treasury secretary Lay lobbied Rubin to whom he ultimately offered a seat on Enron’s board and Summers with easy condiality on issues affecting Enron Treasury Department documents show “I’ll keep my eye on power deregulation and infrastructure issues” Summers told Lay in a hand- - chairman Kenneth Lay he would keep an eye on mingy deregulation an issue g pushed by die company a letter released Thursday shows ' Summers’ note to Lay on May 25 1999 responded to Lay’s earlier letter congratu then-Enr- an " energy-tradin- energy-mark- In brief Bush to surpass $20 billion aid pledge to New York access to her husband in the days before he died Smith 33 has fought lengthy court battles in California and Texas over the fortune of her late husband who died at age 90 in August 1995 14 ' months after they wed The framer Playboy Playmate whose real WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush is proposing additional aid for New York that will - ' bringthetotalfoderalassistanceforSeptil damages to more than the $20 billion he pledged a New York congressman said Thurs- day Republican Rep James Walsh said the new spending makes the federal package about $213 billion including tax breaks in a “Liberty Zone” tax relief plan for lower Manhattan that is making its way through Congress: ‘This is great news" Walsh said Bush planned to meet at the White House on Thursday with New York Gov George Pataki New York City Mayor Midutel Bloomberg and the New York congressional delegation to the additional funding which is subject to congressional approval “The president is a man of his word” Said Pataki a Republican “He said we would get $20 billion and we are getting even more” Bush made the pledge in the days following the attacks and reiterated die promise on a recent visit to tiie city ' - enter plea deals on drug CQnspiracy charges j 58 ' one-wa- Pay Nothing Until June FREE No payment until June FREE Sheets FREE frime FREE Delivery r ifbffiSbnpEDc FREE Removal v of old bedding FREE Set up - Every Mattress On Sale! cross-check- ed - V NJ security adviser resigns amid questions Nj(AP)-v-NewJersey- ’s ate Sofa r Loveseat Sets & nothing Until June Every Sofa On Sale! : “as-neede- - ’ i - Nevertheless Itzhak Sharav an accounting professor at Columbia University said the extent of the sudden losses appearstobe unprecedented among the Big Five account-- ing firms “Normally you gain some clients and lose some at this time of year But what you have now is a y street It’s very hard for them to get other clients to replace the ones that defect” Sharav said - - j the firm” FREE layaway NEW YORK (AP) — Six months after the World Trade Center attack 158 people are officially classified as missing — some of them almost certainly dead some perhaps mistakenly on the lint and some possibly dying to fake their deaths The missing include firefighters and foreign visitors boqd broken and illegal immigrants andmaintenance working mostlyfood-servic- e jobs an Associated Press analysis has found In many cases families have mourned these people and their employers consider them dead but their remains have not been identi- - ' fied and no one has applied for a death certifi-cate Some are illegal immigrants whose families often living in other countries have been unable to obtain death certificates from ' tiie victims employers as will not cooperate The official city count of die missing and ' dead peaked at 6729 on Sept 24 but quickly began dropping as the list was fra mistakes art duplicated names Judge awards $88mij(ion dispute i vast majority of Andersen’s more than 100000 clients around the world remain with Buy Now and stHI TRENTON homeland security adviser has quit amid furor over his lack of law enforcement experi- ence and because his Israeli nationality pro- - ' hibits him foomobtaining a security clearance ' ip Gov James McGreeycy said Thursday Golan Cipel 33 will be kept on the gover-nor- ’s SANTA ANA Calif (AP)Afoderal judp staff and retain his $110000 salaty with ui ’awarded farmer Playboy Playmate Anna basis Nicole Smith mare'than $8$ million in dam--' ' duties assigned on an said t y) McGreevey ages Thursday in die latest ruling in a bitter ' Cipel previously held jobs in television news legal fight over the estate of her late husband ' and public relations Helhas also worked for -TfeXas ad tycoon J Howard Marshall n: US Dtarict Court Judge David O Carter jw l tiie state Democratic copimittee and fra a v 'ruled Thursday thatMarshaU’s soil EPierce ' v major donor to McGreevey and pdier state VV Marshall had interfered with Smith’s attempt Democrats On Wednesday Republican law Mock all of McGreevey ’s to get part of her late husband’s oil fortune v mxkeri threatened to estimated at hundreds of million of dollars remaining afairtintmenti nnlau Cipel tettifjed I V “The evidence of willfulness maliciousness beforethe Senate Judidaiy Committee about v j and fraud is overwhelming” Carter wrote V his background The governor said Opel first i' 'He found foatEPierceMarshall rad others 'asked to quit more than two weeks ago “due to Ilia Tim1 ititiu 1 Vpied osi die couple and controlled Smith’s 'f Patrick Dorton acknowledged “a few” companies have sev- - ' ered ties because of “concerns about the negative publicity” from Andersen’s role as Enron’s chief auditor “We certainly regret the loss of any one of these small number of clients” he said “But we are gratified that the Tax Ecfimd Sale! classified as ‘missing’ In WTC site V Ex-lawm- en ex-Playm- written “PS” at the bottom of his note “These were both issues that the administration and Treasury had been engaged in and issues that Larry Summers was active in when he was deputy secretary” & spokesman for Summers now president of Harvard Universi' ty said Thursday The spokesman did not want his name used shall met her husband in 1991 whgi she was working as a stripper The couple married three years later when she was 26 and he was 89 dis-cu- ss GREENSBORO NC (AP) -- Five people including time former lawmen pleaded guilty Thursday to drug conspiracy charges stemming from a federal sting that broke up a ring trafand ficking in cocaine marijuana steroids ' ' Ecstasy A sixth defendant another former law enforcement officer was expected to appear in federal court later Thursday The defendants had uriierplewled innocent to charges stemming from their arrests Dec 12 but reached a plea agreement with prosecutors Sentencing was setfor June 14 “What would be your position when dealing with Mlheone who has chosen to take a posi- tion ofrcsponsibilityluid chooses to violate thd Iaw7” US District Court Judge William Osteen asked at die hearing et ' name is Vickie Lynn Mar- 1 ‘ FREE Delivery 11 : i i i i ? v-- i Mattress Q7 Cache : yAU£Y Hours: Furniture MAU4-ic787-- Upp Mon-S- at lb-- 9 Suit 12-- 5 r I' r |