a FOIA waiting to happen
John Wonderlich
A FOIA Request Waiting to Happen
September 27th, 2008 by John Wonderlich · No Comments
I recently read in Who Needs to Know that the General Accountability Office doesn't put all of their reports online, as I've probably mistakenly implied before.
It seems that there's a designation for GAO reports for "not
online", or "no internet", whereby the GAO makes the reports available
only by specific request, but bypassing their normal posting process which makes the
reports available through this feed. This is apparently done occasionally at the request of worried agency heads.
I'm usually effusive with my praise of GAO, suggesting that their publication of reports, much like CBO's similar practices, serves as a useful counterargument to the official concerns over publishing reports.
Since GAO suggests that they follow the spirit of the FOIA (which they aren't required to, as an arm of the FOIA-exempt Congress), then the documents are either publicly available or not.
My suggestion is that some FOIA-empowered individual FOIA for the names and document numbers of all GAO documents withheld from Internet publication. This would produce a list of those documents that concerned the agencies GAO was reporting on, which would yield, in effect, the juiciest of all GAO documents, or perhaps those that agencies were most concerned about.
Bonus points go to anyone FOIA-ing for the agency's concern letters sent to GAO (probably yielding the juiciest of the available documents). I wonder if the SEC is in there?
PS: To anyone at GAO reading this: I love GAO, and think your budget should be doubled. Also, please audit government-wide financial disclosures as required by law.
Mark Tapscott
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Mark Tapscott
Editorial Page Editor
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Tapscott's Copy Desk blog
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"Tether the state in the morning and by noon it knows the full length of its tether." ---John Cotton (Paraphrased, actually)
J.H. Snider
The SEC’s disclosure technology may already be the best of any agency in the Federal government (at the least, it puts the FCC, the agency I have followed most closely, to shame). Nevertheless, given the recent financial meltdown, it looks like it may continue to break new ground. Attached is the press release announcing the SEC’s October 8 roundtable to discuss sunlight as the best disinfectant for financial markets.
--J.H. Snider
iSolon.org
SEC Seeks More Transparent Disclosure For Investors
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2008-227
Washington, D.C., Sept. 25, 2008 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it will hold a roundtable on October 8 to discuss ways to modernize its disclosure system to give investors more useful and timely information for investment decision-making.
The roundtable is part of the SEC's 21st Century Disclosure Initiative launched by SEC Chairman Christopher Cox in June. The roundtable's discussions will help guide the Commission as it examines how the agency acquires disclosure information from public companies, mutual funds, and other market entities as well as how that information is being made available to investors and the markets.
"Sunlight has long been the best disinfectant to prevent problems in our markets. The more direct sunlight we can shine on company disclosure documents to extract the information that investors most want and need to make financial decisions, the more honest our markets will be and the stronger investor confidence will be," said Dr. William D. Lutz, Director of the 21st Century Disclosure Initiative. "Our Initiative and our upcoming roundtable are intended to determine how we can best modernize our disclosure system to provide financial information to investors in a format they can quickly use and understand."
The roundtable will be organized into two panels. The first panel will explore the data, technology, and processes that companies and other filers use in satisfying their SEC disclosure obligations. It also will consider the data and technology that investors use in making their investment decisions. The second panel will consider how the SEC could better organize and operate its disclosure system so that companies enjoy efficiencies and investors have better access to high-quality information. The Commission will invite investor representatives, company officials, information intermediaries, practitioners, and academics to participate as panelists.
"Our roundtable discussion will help advise the Commission how to build on and accelerate its transition from the current forms-based system of collecting data to a system that is more dynamic, more accessible and user-friendly, and better organized around core company or fund information," said Dr. Lutz. "Such a company file system would collect core information about a company or fund, supplemented by periodic, current, and transactional information, in a centrally and logically organized structured data file. This would remove complexity and redundancy for filers, and give investors quick access to the information they want. We're seeking input from all stakeholders on the need for a modernized system, and on what it might look like."
The 21st Century Disclosure Initiative (www.sec.gov/disclosureinitiative) aims to fundamentally rethink financial disclosure. The Initiative staff will prepare a report that describes a modernized disclosure system and recommends future Commission action for a transition to the new system. The proposed new system will use new technology to collect, manage, and provide structured disclosure information that is accessible and easier to use, while providing the Commission with tools to better fulfill its mission of protecting investors, maintaining orderly markets, and facilitating the formation of capital.
The roundtable will take place at the SEC's Washington D.C. headquarters beginning at 9 a.m. ET and ending by 1 p.m. ET. The roundtable also will be webcast at www.sec.gov.
# # #
Josh Tauberer
> The SEC’s disclosure technology may already be the best of any agency
> in the Federal government (at the least, it puts the FCC, the agency I
> have followed most closely, to shame). Nevertheless, given the recent
> financial meltdown, it looks like it may continue to break new
> ground. Attached is the press release announcing the SEC’s October 8
> roundtable to discuss sunlight as the best disinfectant for financial
> markets.
Did you/anyone go? Anything interesting?
--
- Josh Tauberer
- GovTrack.us
"Yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation! Yields
falsehood when preceded by its quotation!" Achilles to
Tortoise (in "Godel, Escher, Bach" by Douglas Hofstadter)
J.H. Snider
Josh:
Here is the link to the roundtable page: http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/disclosureinitiative/roundtable.shtml#thornton. The video for the event has already been posted, but not the full transcript, which the website says will be forthcoming “shortly.”
J.H. Snider, MBA, Ph.D.
President
iSolon.org