Major SEC Crackdown On Accounting Firms Won'tHappen.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 2000

Big Five auditors to feel pinch on just two consulting services to

public companies.

Details learned about the Securities and Exchange Commission's final rule to settle a long-brewing dispute shows the

Atlanta-based Public Accounting Report (http://www.straffordpub.com/products/par/index.html) has learned that the SEC's proposal on auditor independence, to be voted on Nov. 15, effectively will be limited to the Big Five firms.

Critical to the accounting profession, the final rule proposed by the SEC staff would not: 1) ban outright the provision of any consulting service to public companies that accounting firms audit. 2) apply to any services except information technology systems consulting and outsourcing of companies' internal audits. 3) force accountants to give up all of their internal audit outsourcing. Instead, accounting firms either could still do that work for public companies under a certain size, or could perform internal audits under a cap on hours worked.

Strafford Publications, Inc. (http://www.straffordpub.com), the publisher of Atlanta-based Public Accounting Report, has posted the full story at its Web site (http://www.straffordpub.com/headlines/accounting.html).

Public Accounting Report is the oldest and most widely circulated independent newsletter of the public accounting profession. Strafford Publications, Inc. also publishes 14 other accounting, legal and security publications and a database of auditor changes at public companies. The company is located at 590 Dutch Valley Road, Postal Drawer 13729, Atlanta, GA 30324-0729.