GW’s Institute for Corporate Responsibility and Center for Audit Quality Announce Initiative on Rethinking Financial Disclosure

Washington, DC – The Institute for Corporate Responsibility (ICR) at the George Washington University (GW) School of Business and the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) today announced a new research initiative that responds to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White’s challenge to streamline Form 10-K disclosure requirements.

As a part of the Initiative on Rethinking Financial Disclosure, multiple teams of graduate students at the GW School of Business will study the issues driving concerns over effective corporate disclosure. The students will then make specific recommendations to reduce unnecessary or redundant reporting requirements, while maintaining the integrity and value of the information for investors. 

“This is a tremendous opportunity for our students to develop solutions to a significant business challenge facing investors, markets, and policymakers,” said Cynthia Glassman, Senior Research Scholar, ICR-GW.

“Effective disclosure is a key component of world-class capital markets,” said CAQ Executive Director Cindy Fornelli. “These students, working with an expert advisory committee, will have the chance to make a positive contribution to this important public policy dialogue.”

Associate Director of ICR, John Forrer, and Faculty Adviser, Susan Kulp, along with an advisory committee co-chaired by Glassman and Fornelli and comprised of leading academics, practitioners, and others, will provide guidance to the student teams throughout a series of interactive sessions. (See list of committee members below.) Each student team will review several Form 10-K reports from randomly selected Fortune 500 companies to help inform their recommendations. The final projects will be presented for judging this September. Then, the most effective recommendations will be compiled into a report that will be submitted to the SEC in October 2014.

In addition to the co-chairs, the Advisory Committee currently is comprised of the following governance experts:

• James Glassman, Chairman and CEO of Public Affairs Engagement and Visiting Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
• J. Richard Knop, GW Trustee and Managing Member, FedCap Partners
• David Martin, Partner, Covington & Burling
• Aeisha Mastagni, Investment Officer, Corporate Governance, CalSTRS
• Susan Phillips, Professor of Finance Emeritus and former Dean, The George Washington University School of Business
• Troy Paredes, Senior Strategy & Policy Advisor, PwC 
• Harvey Pitt, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and a Managing Director, Kalorama Partners and Kalorama Legal Services
• Jason Polun, Director of US Equity Research, T. Rowe Price Associates 
• Neila Radin, Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel, JPMorgan Chase 
• Amar Sarwal, Vice President and Chief Legal Strategist, Association of Corporate Counsel

###

About the CAQ

The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) is an autonomous, nonpartisan public policy organization dedicated to enhancing investor confidence and public trust in the global capital markets. The CAQ fosters high quality performance by public company auditors, convenes and collaborates with other stakeholders to advance the discussion of critical issues requiring action and intervention, and advocates policies and standards that promote public company auditors’ objectivity, effectiveness and responsiveness to dynamic market conditions. Based in Washington, DC, the CAQ is affiliated with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. For more information, visit thecaq.org.

Contact: Erica Hurtt, CAQ
202-591-2601

About The George Washington University School of Business
GW’s School of Business is an international leader in education and research, which prides itself on training future leaders to be global problem solvers and socially responsible managers. The school leverages its prime location—in the heart of Washington—by attracting visiting scholars and leaders in the business community to work, teach and engage with students on campus. The depth and variety of its academic and professional programs, including five specialized master’s programs, provide rich opportunities for academic engagement and career development for students in the school’s core Bachelor of Business Administration, Master of Business Administration and doctoral programs. 
Visit: business.gwu.edu.

Contact: Dustin Carnevale, GW
(202) 994-3674

About The Institute for Corporate Responsibility 

The Institute for Corporate Responsibility (ICR) officially received its Charter from George Washington University in October, 2006. The institute is devoted to the development and dissemination of scholarship, including research and teaching pertaining to corporate responsibility. It serves as a vehicle for continuing education, curriculum development, conferences and seminars each of which will address needs of the School of Business, GW University, and the wider Washington, D.C. community. 

ICR leverages its location to become a leading resource to the business community through business associations and the policy community through federal agencies, Congress, local and regional governments, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations. By fostering such a business-university-government partnership—US and global—the ICR presents a unique knowledge creation and dissemination asset on our campus, building scholarly capacity for our faculty and students, and enhancing GW’s prestige worldwide. The aim of the ICR is to be the world’s leading intellectual center for scholarship in the field of corporate responsibility and to be recognized as such. For more information, visit business.gwu.edu/icr.