For Immediate Release                                     99-113

          Audit Effectiveness Panel Conducts Survey to
          Help Improve Quality of Public Company Audits

     Washington, DC, September 9, 1999 -- The Public Oversight
Board's Panel on Audit Effectiveness is soliciting input on the
effectiveness and quality of financial statement audits from
those who rely on or are impacted by the audits, including
investors, analysts, preparers, and regulators.  This survey is
part of the Panel's on-going efforts to develop recommendations
to improve the effectiveness of audits.

     The Panel on Audit Effectiveness was appointed in October
1998 in response to concerns expressed by the Securities and
Exchange Commission about "management of earnings" by public
companies, high-profile financial reporting failures, and
continuing changes in the way audits are conducted.  Its members
are drawn from industry, public practice and academia and include
two former SEC Commissioners.  The Panel is chaired by Shaun F.
O'Malley, former Chairman of Price Waterhouse LLP.

     Lynn E. Turner, Chief Accountant of the SEC, said "It is
critical to the capital markets that investors continue to be
able to rely on effective and high quality audits to ensure the
credibility of the numbers they rely on.  We commend the Panel
for undertaking this effort and strongly encourage investors,
analysts, regulators, preparers, and others who rely on audits to
participate in this important project, aimed at improving
audits."

     The Panel's questionnaire requests input on a broad spectrum
of topics:

*    Fundamental questions about the quality of independent
  audits and auditors' responsibilities and abilities to detect
  management fraud
*    Specific observations about the audit methodologies employed
  by audit firms
*    Input on the effects of non-audit services on audit quality
  and the relative importance that audit firms place on audit work
  versus other services they provide
*    The quality of new entrants into the auditing profession
*    Whether audit firms will be able to attract and retain high
  quality individuals over the long term
*    Observations regarding the auditing profession's self-
regulatory process and its oversight by the Public Oversight
Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

     Copies of the questionnaire may be obtained from a download of a PDF file at http://ftp.aicpa.org/public/download/members/div/auditstd/panel_q.pdf, or by writing to Panel on Audit
Effectiveness, c/o Public Oversight Board, One Station Place,
Stamford, CT 06902.

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