SEC to Meet Deadline for Accounting Panel

The Securities and Exchange Commission will meet an Oct. 28 deadline to select members for a new board that will oversee accountants and set accounting standards, SEC Chief of Staff Mark Radke said.

“The commission is in the process of finalizing its selection,” said Radke, addressing stock traders in Boca Raton, Fla., at the annual meeting of the Security Traders Assn.

Setbacks in naming an accounting board chairman are putting pressure on SEC Chairman Harvey L. Pitt, who has been accused of bending to Republican and accounting industry requests that he choose someone other than a former pension fund chief.

The accounting board was created as part of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act, enacted July 30 in response to accounting scandals that have hit companies such as Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc.

The board’s first task will be to register all accountants who audit public companies, Radke said.

The board also will set rules for quality control, ethics and the independence of auditors. It will review audit firms regularly to ensure they are following those standards.