OXFORD, Miss. – An internationally known expert in financial markets
and financial reporting delivers the address “Regulation of Financial
Markets” Sept. 11 at the University of Mississippi.
Lynn Turner,
former chief accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
speaks at 2:30 p.m. in Johnson Commons Ballroom. Under the auspices of
the H.E. ‘Gene’ Peery/Sherman and Celia Muths Lecture Series in the
Patterson School of Accountancy, the program is free and open to the
public.
“We are delighted to have Lynn Turner visit the
Patterson School of Accountancy and speak on a subject that should be
of interest to a large number of people,” said Mark Wilder, accountancy
dean. “Essentially, all investors and creditors have a vested interest
in improving public trust in corporate America and in the capital
markets. Mr. Turner’s lecture is very timely given the current state of
the economy, and some of the recent problems in financial reporting and
in the securities markets.”
While serving his post in the SEC, from 1998 to 2001, Turner was deeply involved with the process leading to the creation of the International Accounting Standards Board. He has the distinction of having been a partner in a major international auditing firm and the managing director of a research firm, as well as a chief financial officer and an executive in industry.
In 2007, Turner was appointed to the U.S. Treasury Committee on the Auditing Profession. He has served as an expert witness for and testified before Congress on several occasions. He was involved in the legislative process leading up to passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a U.S. federal law enacted in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals. He has appeared on National Public Radio and major TV networks.
Turner’s lecture is organized by student members of the accountancy school’s Alpha Theta Chapter of Beta Alpha Psi honor society. It is among dozens of campus events planned to help prepare students and local audiences for the first 2008 presidential debate, scheduled Sept. 26 at UM’s Ford Center.
In a Q&A interview included in the May 1, 2008, edition of the online publication Business Finance-Best Practices for Finance Executives, Turner shared his views on the subprime mortgage crisis. He was asked: What do you make of the Treasury Department’s blueprint for regulatory reform?
He replied, “The deregulatory mind set of this administration is coming home to roost, and it’s going to cost us a lot more money than regulation ever would have. … At a time when it becomes painfully clear that it was the lack of regulation that helped to facilitate people doing what they did, it just doesn’t go over with the American public that you deregulate more. In essence, this is what the blueprint does.”
The Ole Miss Beta Alpha Psi students are eager to host Turner’s lecture, said J Shaw, assistant professor of accountancy and adviser for the BAP chapter.
“By their membership in Beta Alpha Psi, they have already indicated a strong desire to excel academically and their strong desire to be a part of the accounting profession,” Shaw said. “The regulation of financial markets will have a big impact on their careers as accountants and they felt like Mr. Turner’s speech would be interesting to all accounting students. It also has broad general appeal to anyone interested in the current state of the economy as voters go to the polls this fall; financial markets are critical to our economy.”
For more information about Turner’s lecture or to request assistance related to a disability, call 662-915-7468. To learn more about the Patterson School of Accountancy, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/accountancy/ . For a complete list of presidential debate-related events and more about the presidential debate at UM, visit http://debate.olemiss.edu/ .