The Accounting Review Vol. 51 No. 3 1976
Public (U.S.) Compared to Private (U.K.) Regulation of Corporate Financial Disclosure.
Abstract
This paper explores differences, costs and benefits of the two systems public regulation of financial disclosure in the U.S. and private regulation in Great Britain and concludes that, in many important respects, private regulation is preferable. Though the U.S. and Great Britain are dissimilar in many important respects, their security markets are rather alike. Though the U.S. Federal Securities Acts were modeled after Great Britain's Companies Acts, they are administered quite differently. In 1934, the U.S. established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), giving it the authority to prepare and administer regulations governing the financial disclosure mandated by the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In contrast, Great Britain's Companies Acts stand on their own in the sense that the specific disclosure required is given in acts rather than in regulations promulgated by the Great Britain's Department of Trade (DT). Although the DT has the power to investigate failures of directors to conform to the requirements of the acts, particularly when such an investigation is requested by security holders, it serves primarily as a repository for the statements filed pursuant to acts.
- DOI
- 10.2308/tar-4482092
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 483-498
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref