As a result, he said, he cannot certify the accuracy of consolidated financial statements for the government as a whole.
Michael J. Critelli, the chief executive of Pitney Bowes, agrees with the Securities and Exchange Commission that corporate chiefs should certify the accuracy of financial statements.
The Observatoire de Besançon, opened in 1880 to certify the accuracy of timepieces using the stars, has worked its way back to certifying about 100 watches a year.
The measure also would require that manufacturers have a senior executive in the United States who could certify the accuracy of information submitted to N.H.T.S.A. in response to investigations.
Following the WorldCom scandal, he announced that chief executives and chief financial officers will both have to certify the accuracy of their firm's accounts.
A new rule requires chief executives and chief financial officers of the top 947 publicly traded United States companies to certify the accuracy of their financial statements on or after Aug. 14.
One is stiff fines and penalties for reporting misleading financial data; the law requires that a company's chief executive and chief financial officer personally certify the accuracy of its financial statements.
The commission also adopted a rule ordered by Congress requiring the chief executive and chief financial officer of the largest companies to certify the accuracy of their quarterly and annual reports.
In his comments before Mr. Oxley's committee, Mr. Greenspan was critical of one crucial part of the House and Senate proposals: requiring senior executives of publicly traded companies to certify the accuracy of their financial statements.
The Massachusetts legislation would require charity and foundation executives to certify the accuracy of their financial statements, create independent audit committees at nonprofit groups with more than $750,000 in revenue, and maintain tighter control over compensation, among other things.
But the Government Accountability Office said "there is a low probability of the audits identifying intentional misrepresentations," because Medicare relies heavily on actuaries who prepare the bids to certify their accuracy.
