E7-12740. Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting

AGENCY:

Securities and Exchange Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of Federal Advisory Committee Establishment and Notice of Meeting.

SUMMARY:

The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) intends to establish the Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (“Committee”).

The first meeting of the Committee will be held on August 2, 2007 in the Auditorium, Room L-002, at the Commission's main offices, 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC beginning at 10 a.m. The meeting will be open to the public. The public is invited to submit written statements with the Committee.

ADDRESSES:

Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:

Electronic Statements

• Use the Commission's Internet submission form (http://www.sec.gov/​rules/​other.shtml); or
• Send an e-mail message to [e-mail]. Please include File Number 265-24 on the subject line; or

Paper Comments

• Send paper comments in triplicate to Nancy M. Morris, Federal Advisory Committee Management Officer, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File No. 265-24. This file number should be included on the subject line if e-mail is used. To help us process and review your comments more efficiently, please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on its Web site (http://www.sec.gov/​rules/​other.shtml). Comments also will be available for public inspection and copying in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. All comments received will be posted without change; we do not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should submit only information that you wish to make available publicly.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

James L. Kroeker at [phone] Deputy Chief Accountant, Office of the Chief Accountant, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 20549-6561.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

In accordance with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2 §§ 1-16, as amended, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) is publishing this notice that the Chairman of the Commission intends to establish the Securities and Exchange Commission Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting (the “Committee”). The Committee's objective is to examine the U.S. financial reporting system, with a view to providing specific recommendations as to how unnecessary complexity in that system could be reduced and how that system could be made more useful to investors.

To achieve the Committee's goals, between 14 and 18 members will be appointed who can effectively represent the varied interests affected by the range of issues to be considered. The Committee's membership may include officers of public companies; board and audit committee members of public companies; accountants and securities lawyers who provide professional services to public companies; and investors, among others. The Committee's membership will be fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented and the functions to be performed.

The Committee may be established 15 days after the publication of this notice by filing a charter for the Committee complying with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, with the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the United States Senate and with the Committee on Financial Services of the United States House of Representatives. A copy of the charter will be filed with the Chairman of the Commission, furnished to the Library of Congress, placed in the Public Reference Room at the Commission's headquarters, and posted on the Commission's Web site at http://www.sec.gov. The Committee's charter would direct it to consider the following areas:

• The current approach to setting financial accounting and reporting standards, including (a) principles-based vs. rules-based standards, (b) the inclusion within standards of exceptions, bright lines, and safe harbors, and (c) the processes for providing timely guidance on implementation issues and emerging issues;
• The current process of regulating compliance by registrants and financial professionals with accounting and reporting standards;
• The current systems for delivering financial information to investors and accessing that information;
• Other environmental factors that may drive unnecessary complexity, including the possibility of being second-guessed, the structuring of transactions to achieve an accounting result, and whether there is a hesitance of professionals to exercise judgment in the absence of detailed rules;
• Whether there are current accounting and reporting standards that do not result in useful information to investors, or impose costs that outweigh the resulting benefits (the Committee could use one or two existing accounting standards as a “test case,” both to assist in formulating recommendations and to test the application of proposed recommendations by commenting on the manner in which such standards could be improved); and
• Whether the growing use of international accounting standards has an impact on the relevant issues relating to the complexity of U.S. accounting standards and the usefulness of the U.S. financial reporting system.

The Committee would be directed to conduct its work with a view to enhancing financial reporting for the benefit of investors, with an understanding that unnecessary complexity in financial reporting can be harmful to investors by reducing transparency and increasing the cost of preparing and analyzing financial reports. Our expectation is that the advisory committee would provide specific recommendations and action steps that can be implemented both in the near term and the long term.

The Committee will operate for approximately 12 months from the date it is established, unless, before the expiration of that time period, its charter is extended or renewed in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act or unless the Commission determines that the Committee's continuance is no longer in the public interest.

The Committee will meet at such intervals as are necessary to carry out its functions. The charter will provide that meetings of the full Committee are expected to occur no more frequently than twelve times per year. Meetings of subcommittees of the full Committee may occur more frequently.

The charter will provide that the duties of the Committee are to be solely advisory. The Commission alone will make any determinations of action to be taken and policy to be expressed with respect to matters within the Commission's authority with respect to which the Committee provides advice or makes recommendations.

The Chairman of the Commission affirms that the establishment of the Committee is necessary and in the public interest.

Furthermore, upon establishment of the Committee, and in accordance with section 10(a) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 10a, notice is hereby given that the first meeting of the Committee will be held on August 2, 2007 in the Auditorium, room L-002 at the Commission's main offices, 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC, beginning at 10 a.m. The meeting will be open to the public. The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss general organizational matters, to plan the progression of the Committee's work, and to begin discussions about the sources of unnecessary complexity and the barriers to investor transparency in the U.S. financial reporting system.

By the Commission.

Dated: June 27, 2007.

Nancy M. Morris,

Committee Management Officer.