Business professor named to blue-ribbon committee

Larry Rittenberg, chair of the Accounting and Information Systems Department of the School of Business, has been appointed to a national blue-ribbon panel to make recommendations on strengthening the role of audit committees in overseeing corporate financial reporting.

The panel, which began work Nov. 11, was appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers. It was created in response to recent concerns expressed by SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt about the adequacy of the oversight of the audit process by independent corporate directors.

A UW–Madison accounting faculty member since 1978, Rittenberg has long been interested in all phases of the auditing process, especially the effectiveness of audit reports and improving the effectiveness of audit committees.

He joins a panel of 15 members co-chaired by John C. Whitehead, former deputy secretary of state and retired co-chair and senior partner of Goldman, Sachs & Co., and Ira M. Millstein, senior partner of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, a noted corporate governance expert.

The committee will study the effectiveness of audit committees in discharging their oversight responsibilities and make recommendations concerning the role and composition of audit committees, the ways auditors and audit committees interact, new corporate disclosure requirements, and a formulation of “best practices.”

Chairman Levitt, who delivered a major address on the state of financial reporting this September in New York, praised the actions of the NYSE and the NASD in calling the panel. “The swiftness of their response indicates the type of financial community leadership we need to keep the American capital markets the deepest, most liquid in the world” he said. “I am confident that this group will produce tangible recommendations for improving audit committee oversight of the financial reporting process.”

Rittenberg said that improving corporate governance and maintaining the integrity of our financial reporting system is going to be one of the keys to an effective economy over the next decade.

“I am pleased that Larry Rittenberg’s expertise in the auditing process will be utilized by this blue-ribbon panel in the important area of corporate financial reporting,” said Business School Dean Andrew J. Policano.