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BLB&G Partner Sal Graziano Addresses
SEC Advisory Committee on
Financial Reporting
BLB&G partner Salvatore Graziano
was invited to appear before the Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Improvements to
Financial Reporting (“Committee”) for its public meeting on March 13, 2008 at the University of California in San
Francisco. Mr. Graziano participated in a panel discussing recent proposals in the Committee’s February 14, 2008
Progress Report, Chapter 3. The Committee proposed a "judgment framework" for accounting and auditing,
including a checklist of nine factors to be considered in exercising the accountant’s and auditor’s
“professional judgment” that is “based on a crucial and reasoned evaluation made in good faith.”
In addition, the Committee strongly supported a general move away from “rules-based” accounting standards
and toward “principles-based” standards.
In his written submission and oral presentation, Mr. Graziano argued that the proposals would ultimately hurt
investors by making it more difficult for competent, honest auditors to challenge management’s “judgment” and by
reducing the transparency, comparability and uniformity of financial statements while increasing their complexity.
The proposals would further hurt investors by making it more difficult to prosecute accounting fraud both civilly and criminally.
To view Mr. Graziano's written submission to the SEC's
Committee, click
here.
Mr. Graziano is an experienced trial attorney whose practice focuses primarily on
securities fraud class actions. He is also one of the partners who oversees the Firm’s Subprime
Litigation Practice Group, which serves to protect and vindicate shareholder and consumer rights
arising from the mortgage and mortgage-based security debt crisis. He is currently lead counsel
in investor class actions against subprime mortgage originators Fremont General Corp.
and New Century Financial Corp
For more information about this event, please visit
www.sec.gov.
For more information about Mr. Graziano or the firm,
please contact us at blbg@blbglaw.com.
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