From Dateline (October 23, 2003)

New Business Center Offers Financial Reporting News

Cal State Fullerton’s College of Business and Economics has opened the doors of the Center for Corporate Reporting and Governance.

The new center was established to disseminate infor- mation on current financial reporting issues and interpretations of financial rules, as well as to publish the results of studies sponsored or conducted by the center.

“Our goal is to serve as a resource for the business community in Orange County by promoting ethics, as well as good governance and reporting practices and disseminating this information to the investing and professional community,” said Vivek Mande, professor of accounting and center director.

The center was begun, in part, because of demand from the business community, which has given the center a good reception, said Mande. “The comments and input from those in the field have helped mold the center.”

Among the center’s strengths is its two boards, with a blend of academic and professional members, including a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission. “No other center has SEC officers serving on their boards,” he noted. The boards will be gathering for their inaugural meeting later this semester.

Earlier this month the new center co-hosted with Beta Alpha Psi a conference on “Fraud, Ethics and Changes in the Accounting Profession.”

Next on the center’s schedule is the inaugural Corporate Reporting and Governance Conference in January. Papers to be presented at the event are being sought.

“We look forward to our 2004 Corporate Reporting and Governance Conference, when SEC regulators, nationally recognized academics and leading business leaders and accountants will share their views on improving corporate reporting and governance as a means to restoring investor confidence in markets,” said Mande, a 2001-02 Academic Accounting Fellow at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Eco-nomic Analysis in Washington, D.C.

More information on the center can be found at http://business.fullerton.edu/ccrg/about.htm.