SEC Panel Advances Plan to Force Investor Focus on Rulemaker

The US Securities and Exchange Commission needs to make investor-focused oversight changes to the group that sets accounting rules for US companies, an SEC investor panel voted Wednesday.

“In short, we’ve seen the investor community increasingly express the view that the FASB does not prioritize the interests of investors,” said Colleen Honigsberg, associate professor at Stanford Law School, referring to the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

The panel forwarded to the Wall Street regulator a slate of recommendations to improve how the rulemaker crafts accounting standards so new rules focus on the information investors need to make investment decisions. ...