Federal regulators voted tentatively Wednesday to require chief executives to personally vouch for their companies’ financial reports, a Bush administration initiative inspired by the collapse of Enron Corp.
COMPANIES ALSO WOULD have to make public important changes in their operations much faster and report a wider group of changes under the new rules of by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The “8-K” form for reporting significant events or corporate changes important to investors would have to be filed with the SEC within two business days, rather than the current requirement of five days for some items and 15 days for others.
Among the new items that would have to be reported in the 8-K: the sort of off-balance-sheet transactions that helped topple Enron and unexpected departures of top executives, senior managers or directors.