The SEC is creating a unit inside enforcement for accounting and financial reporting fraud, and has given it to an adviser who joined the division in May
Timothy Zimmerman joined the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Enforcement in May, as a senior advisor to the director. He now runs a unit of his own.
The Commission announced on Wednesday that it is establishing a Financial Reporting and Accounting Unit inside the division, to pursue accounting and financial reporting fraud cases and what the release calls general misconduct in the accounting and auditing areas. The unit is to be staffed by both attorneys and accountants with specialised skills related to financial reporting, accounting and auditing in securities regulation.
The release adds that the unit will work with staff across the relevant divisions and offices so that its approach to enforcing the federal securities laws stays consistent with the Commission's policy goals.
The people named, and the ones not
David Woodcock, director of the division, is quoted saying that since his return he has been assessing every aspect of staffing to make sure it is aligned to deliver results in the core mission areas, and describing the new unit as an expansion of the division's current and historical efforts against, in his words, "bad actors in the accounting and auditing profession". Osman Nawaz, principal deputy director and head of specialised units, is quoted welcoming the appointment.
Zimmerman's background is given in the release by duration rather than by employer. Twelve years at an international law firm, and most recently deputy general counsel at an international accounting and professional services firm. Neither firm is named.
What is not in it
No start date. No headcount. No case, no respondent and no rule.
A specialised unit is an internal allocation of people, and nothing in the announcement alters what any issuer, auditor or registrant has to do. It says where the division intends to put its accountants, and that is the whole of what it says. Whether the unit amounts to anything is a question the enforcement docket will answer over the next few quarters.
