Georgetown University Law Center

About: Georgetown University Law Center is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Supreme court & Public health. The organization has 585 authors who have published 2488 publications receiving 36650 citations. The organization is also known as: Georgetown Law & GULC.

Observations on the Role of Commodification, Independence and Governance in the Accounting Industry

Abstract: In this Article, we argue the internal corporate governance structure of the big accounting firm is fundamentally flawed, and that this flaw contributed to the current crisis of confidence in the integrity of public reporting. The incentive structure within accounting firms makes it virtually impossible for auditors to be independent of significant clients like Enron. The result has been a change in the balance of economic power between accounting firms and their clients - individual audit partners suffer from client capture. In addition, to their lack of independence, accounting firms and partners lack accountability in part due to the advent of the limited liability partnership structure. Despite these problems, federal securities laws and regulations require auditors to provide independent audits to companies. The result has been the commodification of audits and a market in which audits are bought and sold. As a consequence, audits no longer serve the economic purpose for which they were required - providing information that protects investors and leads to the efficient pricing of securities. Although the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act offer some help in resolving the capture, governance, and commodification concerns we raise, we conclude that more is needed. Sarbanes-Oxley established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. This Board is to register the public accounting firms, set standards for their reports, inspect and investigate the firms, and, when appropriate, sanction firms and individuals. To be successful, the Board will have to replace the incentive system eliminated with the creation of LLPs with its own set of rules and standards, which it will have to enforce vigorously. In addition, Sarbanes-Oxley provides new standards for auditor independence, establishing a requirement that audit firms rotate the partners assigned to clients in order to prevent capture. We conclude that this provision is less likely to achieve its goal, as long as client satisfaction remains the dominant measure of partner performance. Instead, we argue that until lead audit partners are confident that they can fire dishonest clients without fear that doing so will result in the destruction of their own careers, the problems that contributed to the Enron and other significant corporate failures will continue to exist.

Strengthened scientific support for the Endangerment Finding for atmospheric greenhouse gases

Abstract: We assess scientific evidence that has emerged since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 Endangerment Finding for six well-mixed greenhouse gases and find that this new evidence lends increased support to the conclusion that these gases pose a danger to public health and welfare. Newly available evidence about a wide range of observed and projected impacts strengthens the association between the risk of some of these impacts and anthropogenic climate change, indicates that some impacts or combinations of impacts have the potential to be more severe than previously understood, and identifies substantial risk of additional impacts through processes and pathways not considered in the Endangerment Finding.

Trust Darknet: Control and Compromise in the Internet's Certificate Authority Model

Abstract: For more than a decade, Internet users have relied upon digital certificates issued by certificate authorities to encrypt and authenticate their most valuable communications. Computer security experts have lambasted weaknesses in the system since its inception. A series of recent exploits have brought several problems back into stark focus. This paper describes some of the proposed technology-based improvements, as well as the structural shortcomings of the trust model – legal, economic, and organizational. We explore some of these structural defects in the context of lessons learned over the lifetime of the certificate authority trust model, and propose first steps toward fixes and next steps for study.