Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[augieboo]

Zeev, the reason you're disappointed is that the media hasn't made clear what the SEC has done vs what it intends to do.

What the SEC has done is ordered

that the principal executive officer and principal financial officer of each of the Companies shall either (a) file a statement in writing, under oath, in the form of Exhibit A hereto, or (b) file a statement in writing, under oath, describing the facts and circumstances that would make such a statement incorrect. In either case, such statement shall further declare in writing, under oath, whether or not the contents of the statement have been reviewed with the Company's audit committee, or in the absence of an audit committee, the independent members of the Company's board of directors. http://www.sec.gov/rules/other/4-460.htm

This order is, indeed, pretty limp. But, it is all the SEC has the power to do on it's own, and quickly.

What the SEC intends to do is a bit more substantive.
I think that what you are looking for is contained in several new Rules which the SEC is seeking to implement under the various Securities Acts.

Here is the extremely short form of the SEC's proposal for these new Rules:

We propose to add an explicit certification requirement in connection with the filing of quarterly and annual reports pursuant to the Exchange Act. 33 Under our proposal, a company's principal executive officer and principal financial officer each would have to certify in an annual report that:

-- he or she has read the report;

-- to his or her knowledge, the information in the
report is true in all important respects as of the
end of the period covered by the report; and

-- the report contains all information about the
company of which he or she is aware that he or
she believes is important to a reasonable investor
as of the end of the period covered by the report.34

The proposed certification also would contain a statement explaining that information would be "important to a reasonable investor" if:

-- there is a substantial likelihood that a reasonable
investor would view the information as significantly
altering the total mix of information in the report; and

-- the report would be misleading to a reasonable
investor if the information was omitted from the report.

The certification in a quarterly report would be similar, but would take account of the narrower disclosure required in these reports. Because quarterly report disclosure requirements include financial statements and management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operation, the certification clearly addresses areas that we believe are important to investors.

I think these new rules, if implemented as described, would have quite a bit more "bite" than the previously issued order.

By the way, the comment period for the proposed rules is open until August 19. I strongly urge everyone to share their thoughts on these issues with the SEC.

Comments should be submitted in triplicate to Jonathan G. Katz, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549-0609. Comments also may be submitted electronically at the following electronic mail address: mailto:[e-mail]. All comment letters should refer to File No. S7-21-02; this file number should be included in the subject line if electronic mail is used. Comment letters will be available for public inspection and copying in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549. Electronically submitted comment letters will be posted on the Commission's Internet website ( http://www.sec.gov ).1

http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/34-46079.htm







Woof-woof!

(:

augie