New York Federal Reserve Presi-dent William McDonough, who helped calm US financial markets after the biggest hedge-fund collapse in history, has been picked to lead a new board to restore faith in corporate audits.
McDonough, 68, the US central bank's liaison to Wall Street and the most influential Fed member after Chairman Alan Greenspan, won unanimous backing from the Securities and Exchange Commission to become chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
The SEC chairman, William Donaldson, flanked by the four other commissioners, called McDonough the ideal choice to quiet investor fears after accounting scandals at Enron Corp, WorldCom Inc and other companies. McDonough said he will speed his planned Fed retirement so he can start his new job by late May.
"The task before us is to restore the confidence of the American people and others around the world that the accounting statements issued by public companies registered in our country, and certified by public accounting firms present a complete, true and timely report that can be trusted,'' McDonough said on Tuesday.
The oversight board, given the power to police the accounting profession, was the centerpiece of last year's Sarbanes-Oxley cor-porate-governance law.
McDonough's appointment -- praised by Wall Street executives, investor advocates and lawmakers -- could take the spotlight off the board itself, which has oper-ated in controversy since it was formed in October. The group has been without a chairman since former FBI director William Webster quit in November.
McDonough is ``a superstar with absolute integrity,'' said New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. "This will go a long way toward getting this organization going."
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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