Lynn Turner Speaks Out on Financial Regulatory Reform

Former SEC Chief Accountant Lynn Turner, now a senior advisor and managing director at LECG, was interviewed on Bloomberg TV yesterday (Sept. 25), on the subject of financial regulatory reform, see the interview here. In the interview, Turner describes some of the administration's proposals for regulatory reform as 'regulation-lite,' lacking some key components that Turner believes are necessary to prevent a recurrence of the economic crisis.

Asked by the Bloomberg newscaster whether proposals presented by the Obama administration at the G-20 Summit would work on a broader global scale, Turner said, "I don't think so; I think you've got to get some fundamentals into the regulation; you've got to get enhanced transparency around what Wall Street and the banks are doing, so the market can discipline themselves; you've got to get much greater accountability for the executives, for the boards, for the people doing these transactions that have become so disruptive; without that accountability and without that transparency, it just will not occur."

Of note: according to Financial Executive Magazine Editor-in-Chief Ellen M. Heffes, in attendance at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, Turner's Bloomberg interview happened to be broadcast on monitors in the press room at the G-20 meeting on Friday. See our separate blog post recapping the results of the G-20 meeting.

Queried by the Bloomberg newscaster for specifics, among the suggestions he made was for Credit Rating Agencies to become more accountable and provide more transparency into their ratings.

Asked whether there is a model regulatory system currently out there he would recommend, Turner noted "No one's system worked, we're really going back to ground zero and creating something from scratch here." Watch the whole Bloomberg interview to hear more.

Turner also recently wrote a paper published by LECG, entitled, Financial Crisis to Reform: Change, or Just High Hopes? (c) 2009, LECG, LLC, used with permission.

The paper provides a succinct and readable summary of the various financial regulatory reform initiatives currently before Congress. Turner is frequently called upon to testify to Congress on issues relating to financial regulation, and has served on numerous advisory boards including the U.S. Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's Standing Advisory Group. Turner is also a member of longstanding member of FEI.

Earlier this year, Turner joined LECG, a global expert services and consulting firm which provides independent expert testimony and analysis, original authoritative studies, and strategic advisory services. He is a senior advisor and managing director in the forensic accounting practice. Further information can be found at http://www.lecg.com/forensicaccounting/.

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