"We must usher in a new era of integrity in corporate America." President Bush spoke none too soon yesterday about the crisis of confidence which has swept through boardrooms, workplaces and markets in the United States following the latest series of accounting scandals in major companies there.
That such a pro-business president should have presided over such a collapse of standards made this a specially pointed speech. It was stronger on rhetoric than on concrete measures for reform, in keeping with his belief that "the American system of enterprise has not failed", rather have dishonest individuals done so.
Mr Bush spoke on the day after Mr Bernard Eggers, former chairman of the telecommunications company WorldCom, invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify at a Congresssional hearing about the company's $3.8 billion accounting fraud. It disguised expenses as capital expenditures to appear more profitable. Mr Eggars exemplifies the southern chief executive officer as superhero, having been fawned upon by the business media as a champion of corporate profitability and personal financial rewards. Similar star status was accorded the CEO of Enron, Mr Kenneth Lay, before his company's disintegration in a welter of fraud which engulfed the major accounting firm Arthur Andersen. A period which saw the differential between workers' and CEOs' pay widen tenfold has come suddenly to a stop. Mr Bush's speech is an attempt to restore confidence and legitimacy to the system.
He is seeking to double to 10 years prison terms for such fraudulent practices. He wants to strengthen laws against document shredding and other obstructions of justice frequently used. He is seeking an increase in funding for the Security and Exchange Commission to hire more investigators and buy more equipment. Companies should prevent corporate officers receiving internal loans. Stock markets should require that a majority of a company's directors and all its audit, nominating and compensation committees should be materially independent to enhance credibility. He announced a new task force to pursue and prosecute corporate criminal activity, drawn from several federal agencies.
All this tightens existing sanctions rather than opening up more severe new controls. It assumes self-regulation by companies and stock exchanges will do most of the necessary work. How credible this approach proves to be will be a critical factor politically as well as economically in coming months. Already this crisis has affected the performance of the US economy and the dollar internationally, affecting many millions of jobs at home and abroad. It has put the spotlight on suspect accounting standards throughout the capitalist world, reminding all concerned of the necessity for strict regulation after a period in which corporate executives were so indulged when they looked after short term profitability and share values. The issue gives the Democrats a real opportunity to make gains at the Republicans' expense in the upcoming Congressional elections. It presents Mr Bush with a stern test of his domestic credibility on ground he has claimed as his own but now appears to be rebounding on him.