Business News

Financial Analyst Discusses Accounting Post-Enron

—March 27, 2002

Pat McConnell, senior managing director at Bear, Stearns & Company, Inc. in New York. Pat McConnell, senior managing director at Bear, Stearns & Company, Inc. in New York, presented a guest lecture to advanced accounting students in the College of Business. McConnell discussed "Financial Accounting and Analysis Post-Enron."

"Following the Enron scandal, accounting is back in vogue with investors," she said. "The market is more easily spooked with stories about accounting inquiries.

"There has been a 180-degree shift in the investment community since this scandal," McConnell said. "The public has gone from irrational exuberance to irrational concern."

When McConnell started in this profession in the 1970s, IBM was producing an annual report that was only 10 pages long. Now investors are demanding more access to financial information. "The reason financial information seems to be of a lower quality, is because investors now have access to more information," she said.

McConnell is head of the accounting and taxation group in equity research. For the past 12 years, she has been named to Institutional Investor's "All-America Research Team" of financial analysts. She has also served as a member of the FASB's Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council.

"Enron has given the accounting profession a black eye and it will take several years to get over it."

Wendy Frost—

Please send your comments to: wendy.frost@utsa.edu

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