|  | | 2005 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
Chris Cox's Numbers Man?
Staff Writer – Financial Times
Securities Mosaic. December 8, 2005
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EXCERPT: Is Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, grooming Bill Gradison to be the next head of the US accounting regulator? Last Friday Cox caused a stir by announcing the chief financial regulator had appointed Gradison to be the acting chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Gradison is an existing PCAOB member. But Charlie Niemeier, another PCAOB member, had been widely expected to take over the reins temporarily, given that he was acting chairman in 2002-03. He did the top job after William Webster, the first PCAOB chairman, resigned abruptly. Cox turned to Gradison partly, perhaps, because the two men have known each other for a long time. They are both former Republican congressmen. Some people inside and outside the PCAOB surmise the SEC did not choose Niemeier because he was close to William McDonough, the PCAOB chairman who resigned at the end of last month. McDonough angered some SEC people by insisting the PCAOB should not be viewed as the chief financial regulator's junior partner. Moreover, Paul Atkins and Cynthia Glassman, Cox's fellow Republican commissioners, criticised the PCAOB flagship rule on how auditors should review a company's internal controls, which has been blamed for a steep rise in compliance costs. Cox has apparently told the PCAOB members nothing should be read into Gradison's temporary elevation to the top job at the PCAOB. |
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