Bush: Make executives responsible for actions. (Executive Briefing).

Without specifically singling out Enron or Arthur Andersen, President Bush has added his voice to those clamoring to make corporate executives personally responsible for actions that mislead and harm investors.

In March, Bush called on the federal Securities and Exchange Commission

(SEC) to clarify and toughen rules that deal with investments made by corporate executives. The president also called for the commission to impose larger penalties for violations and made it clear that he wants to dissuade executives from hiding corporate liabilities and from manipulating earnings to enrich themselves.

Bush also called for the establishment of an independent regulatory board to oversee the accounting industry. The new board would be tasked with policing conflicts of interest, such as when an accounting firm provides substantial business consulting services for a company that it also is auditing.

"We need to get back to basic capitalism," the president said. That system "depends upon free people acting responsibly."

The SEC already is trying to force a former executive of a New Jersey pharmaceutical company to return stock options that allegedly gained in value artificially due to improper actions by the executive.

The agency also wants to prevent unethical business leaders from serving as officers or directors of publicly traded companies. And it proposes shortening the time allowed to corporations to report certain financial transactions.

Some corporations are voluntarily increasing the financial detail in their annual reports to shareholders, to show that they are not hiding questionable dealings.

Steve Bates is senior writer for HR Magazine.