Stephen G. Butler.

• Author: Myers, Roslyn
• Position: SEC testimony - Brief Article

In testimony before an SEC panel, KPMG Chairman Stephen G. Butler asked that the Independence Standards Board (ISB) be allowed time to develop its resolutions on auditor independence. He also called on the SEC to work with the accounting profession and others to create a new accounting model for the global, digital economy. (FEI also has urged more authority for the ISB; see page 68??)

Butler argued that the SEC's actions are pre-empting the mission of the ISB, which was established to develop a new conceptual framework for auditor independence. "Such a framework has been lacking for too long, and its absence is sorely felt in the Commission's rulemaking proposal."

Butler's statement was the latest in a series by leaders of major auditing firms protesting the SEC's far-reaching proposal on auditor independence, which would effectively ban accounting firms from engaging in certain types of consulting work for audit clients.

In response to charges that consulting...