OGILVY BESTS PN FOR TIAA-CREF

WPP Group's Ogilvy PR Worldwide edged Omnicom's Porter Novelli International in the competition for TIAA-CREF ($273 billion in assets), and its outreach program to educators in the key California market.

Alicia Ritter, Ogilvy's national education group head, said TIAA-CREF is a "significant" win that will jumpstart growth for the firm's newly created education unit (clients include U.S. Dept. of Education, Los Angeles Community College District, California Office of the Secretary for Education and Illinois Medical Center).

Ogilvy's Sacramento office will keep teachers from kindergarten-through-college abreast of TIAA-CREF's assortment of pension management, mutual funds, annuities and trust services. Ritter reports to Steve Ludwig, PR-director for TIAA-CREF's western region in Denver.

SILVER DEFENDS VS. EDELMAN, OGILVY

M. Silver Assocs. has defended its $300K Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau account in a pitch against Edelman PR Worldwide and Ogilvy PR Worldwide, Virginia Sheridan, President of the New York-based firm, told this NL.
The Bureau is the firm's oldest account. Since it picked up the account in 1985, Sheridan said her firm has successfully won five rebids for it. "We've gone up against Burson-Marsteller and Hill and Knowlton and a variety of mid-sized travel specialty agencies," she said.

She credits her firm's winning streak with being responsive to the client's needs, fast turnaround time, and delivering strong measurable results. Sheridan, who heads the Bureau account, said another factor for Silver's streak is an "understanding of the government culture."

$3M VISA ACCOUNT BEING REVIEWED

Lee Anne Morgan is running the review of Visa's $3 million PR account that is handled by Ketchum. Visa is using Morgan Anderson Consulting for the review because "there is a history with this firm," said Janet Yang, corporate relations manager at Visa. Morgan said she has been working on the search for about four or five weeks now, but would not go into detail about her work. Morgan, who once worked at Ketchum, which has had the Visa account for five years, said the winner should be announced by Aug. 1.

B-M HIRES EX-TOP NYC OFFICIAL

Burson-Marsteller, which is competing with Edelman PR Worldwide for the $2 million PR campaign to promote the re-development of lower Manhattan, has hired Gregory Miley, a former senior VP-PA at the New York City Economic Development Corp. A B-M spokesperson said Miley's recruitment as director of its New York PA practice has nothing to do with B-M pitching the NYCEDC business.

At B-M, Miley replaces Alisa Feinstein. She was an aide to former NYC Controller Alan Hevesi, and worked on his Democratic primary campaign for Mayor. Feinstein, who had a baby earlier this year, left B-M and moved to London.

Nancy Tully, Weber Shandwick New York/GM and technology chief, returns to Symbol Technologies as VP-corporate communications. She is responsible for PR, investor relations, promotion and advertising at the Holtsville, N.Y., company that bills itself as the "global leader in mobile data transactions" or bar code scanners. At WS for the past four years, Tully counseled Compaq Computer, Sharp Electronics, Reuters and Dun & Bradstreet.

WSJ HITS OMC; STOCK TANKS; SUIT FILED

Omnicom CEO John Wren is able to buck the ad downturn because the firm applies aggressive accounting techniques to report its long-string of acquisitions (73 deals in the past two years), according to the June 12 front page Wall Street Journal.

The story battered OMC's stock price, prompted an OMC teleconference, sparked analyst downgrades and triggered a lawsuit.

"It's impossible to figure out independently how much revenue or income growth OMC buys because the company isn't required to report critical details about most of its acquisitions," reported the WSJ. Wren said OMC complies with relevant accounting and Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure rules.

The Journal reported that while rivals Interpublic and WPP Group acquire "glitzier acquisitions," OMC buys "smaller, less-well-known companies in advertising, direct mail and such related specialties as promotions events and booking speakers." The apparent strategy is to target firms that are already servicing its clients, so it can handle as much of those clients' business as possible," wrote Vanessa O'Connell and Jess Eisinger. They also reported that

(continued on page 7)

SEC's PITT WOOS FINANCIAL PRESS

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt said his agency can take 'hits' in the media, but feels that it also deserves credit for launching an "unparalleled reform crusade" to make the markets better.

Pitt acknowledged the importance of covering news of "infamous" companies such as Enron, Global Crossing, Adelphia and Worldcom that have eroded investor confidence in the integrity of both the markets and corporate managers.

However, he feels that the intense media spotlight on "some less than honest folks on Wall and Main Streets" gives the perception of widespread corruption. "Although investors are being told how terrible corporate, accounting and brokerage behavior has been, and how inadequate aspects of our regulatory system have proven, they are not getting the message that SEC is embarked upon an unparalleled reform crusade designed to make our markets infinitely better than they've ever been in the past."

The SEC head told members of the New York Financial Writers' Assn. that he counts on them to get the SEC reform message out. "We rely on the press to let investors know there are real reform efforts underway: that the defalcations of the past are being relegated to the past, and will not likely be part of our bright future, said the Commission chairman at the group's annual awards dinner on June 13.

"Investors look to your news pages and to your broadcasts for guidance, and what you say is vitally important to restoring confidence in our markets. The regulatory system looks to the press to make investors aware real reform is underway," he said.

Harvey's dream

Pitt said his dream is that media "won't have to continue to write about crime waves in the financial world." He dreams that the "rules for conducting the public's business in the markets will be so clear, and the penalties for malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance so high, that no one will think seriously about crossing the line."

His aspiration is that "no one will cook corporate books, lie about a company's prospects or sell worthless stock to an unsuspecting retiree."
Pitt concedes that his dream is unrealistic. "There will always be greedy people and outright crooks who will try to evade the rules, rather than comply with them," he said.

Works with Press

He doesn't expect a non-adversarial role with the media. He sees a "symbiotic' relationship between the SEC and press.

"You depend on us to identify, and/or respond to, major market developments and issues, and we supply the substance for your reportage and commentary," he said. "The SEC is very reliant on a free and independent press to ferret out and call to our attention emerging issues and problems, and to carry our messages to the investing public."

DELAHAYE MEDIALINK TAKES PAINE TO COURT

Delahaye Medialink has obtained a restraining order against its former president, Katie Delahaye Paine, charging the PR measurement guru with violating a non-compete contract by publishing a newsletter and website on marketing measurement after leaving DM earlier this year.

Paine, who sold her firm, The Delahaye Group, to Medialink in 1999, told this NL that DM went to court in April "unbeknownst to me," charging that publication of The Measurement Standard and its website went against her contract not to compete until March 2003. She said DM filed the suit April 19 and began negotiations to "resolve our differences" on April 25.

Mark Weiner, CEO of DM, said DM took legal action "after many months of discussion" and only after it "became apparent" that Paine had taken "certain actions that we believe are in breach of her employment agreement and only after we could not resolve our issues."

Paine said the suit is a "fundamental difference of opinion."

"I wanted to do something good - expand the marketplace and write about the [measurement] field. I have no intention to compete," she said.
Paine has halted publication of the newsletter and website, as a result of the restraining order, until a June 28 hearing on the matter in U.S. District Court, Southern District, New York.

The restraining order joins Paine, K.D. Paine and Partners LLC, and any of its employees or agents "from using confidential information of Medialink, breaching the covenant not to compete with Medialink, and from hiring any employees and representatives of Medialink."

H&K BEATS EDELMAN, BRODEUR

Hill and Knowlton picked up the $20K-a-month Identrus account because it came across as the "best and the brightest" of the international agencies that pitched the account, according to Greg Worch, chief marketing officer of the New York-based "digital trust services" company. It beat out Edelman PR Worldwide, Omnicom's Brodeur and Strategic Alliance PR, which had been handling projects.

Fleishman-Hillard also was considered for the pitch, but had to withdraw due to competitive reasons, said Laura Grimmer, the former Fitzgerald Communications executive who handled the search.

She now heads Articulate Communications, a New York high-tech PR firm that just expanded.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has launched a $400,000 "Stand for Israel" grassroots PR/ad campaign designed to mobilize 100,000 U.S. churches and one million Christians in support for the Jewish state. Former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed and Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein co-chair the group.

PITCH NEWS AND EXCLUSIVES TO WSJ

Rebecca Blumenstein, who heads the Wall Street Journal's technology group for the New York bureau, told a record turnout of 200 publicists, at the June 13 meeting of Publicity Club of New York, to remember beat reporters at the Journal are under tremendous pressure to be ahead of the news.

She said publicists should not bother to submit non-exclusive story ideas because they will most likely be killed or set aside until a new angle is found.

Blumenstein heads a team of eight reporters, who are assigned to cover companies in the telecommunications and automotive areas. Their stories usually run on the "Technology Journal" page.

Blumenstein, who is eager to cultivate PR people as news sources, said she especially likes to work with publicists who help her do leg work on stories. "It is also a way for you to get your stories in the paper," she said.

A good place for publicists to get their technology stories used is in "Digits," she said, a new column that runs every Thursday. The feature is compiled and written by technology staff reporters.

Blumenstein encourages her reporters to get out of the office and away from their computers. By talking to people, reporters can find trends and get news tips.

'Personal Journal' Is for News

Edward Felsenthal, editor of the Journal's "Personal Journal," reminded the publicists that the new section is a "news section, not a features section."

"This is the most important thing for you to remember when pitching stories," said Felsenthal, who was a another member of the three-person panel of Journal editors who spoke.

He said the two main missions of the new section are to put front page news in perspective and to explain what the news means to the reader so they can reevaluate their options.

He said the section, which is published Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, is focused on news coverage of personal finance, travel, health and family, cars, gadgets, and leisure and the arts.

While most of the space is used to cover personal finance news, Felsenthal said a full page is allocated to health in the Tuesday and Thursday sections, and gadgets are featured in Wednesday's section.

He said new departments are being added. Last week, for example, a department called "Eating Around" was started. Written by Katy McLaughlin, it will compare prices and preparation of similar menu items offered by restaurants. The June 13 entry compared Cuban sandwiches at three eating places in New York, Cambridge, Mass., and Miami.

Narisetti Will Redirect Pitches

Raju Narisetti, deputy national editor, said it helps to pitch the reporter who is covering the story, but he will redirect pitches to the right reporter or editor should the publicist come to him with a story or idea.

"Reading the paper really helps" to know what reporters are covering.

Narisetti said his staff spends a lot of time monitoring the wires, looking for news.

Steve Goldstein, director of communications for Dow Jones, who attended the meeting as a guest, said all news staffers for the Journal, will return to their old headquarters at 200 Liberty st. at the end of July.

He said the staff of WSJ.com will remain in its current SoHo offices, and copy editors will stay in South Brunswick, N.J.

Himler Repeats

Peter Himler, who is Burson-Marsteller's media director, was reelected to another one-year term as president of PCNY.

Other newly elected officers for 2002-2003 are: Eric Wright, D.S. Simon, first VP/programs; Lisa Kovitz, B-M, second VP/membership; Nancie Steinberg, City of Hope, treasurer, and Jessica Switzer, MercerDelta Consulting, secretary.

TRADITIONAL RELEASE IS DEAD

PR consultant B.L. Ochman has declared the traditional press release is dead.

What's needed, said Ochman, is made-for-the-Internet format that can make its point in six lines on journalists' e-mail screens.

Ochman recommends:

-Lead paragraph in 40 words or less. Of those 40 words, no more than six words are used to describe what the company does.

-Make the body of your entire release 300 words or less, in five short paragraphs.

-Use bulleted points Who? What? Where? When? Why? as paragraph headings.

-Write only two-three short sentences in each paragraph.

-Above the headline and/or at the bottom, be sure to provide a contact name, phone number, e-mail address and URL.

-Never send a release as an attachment. Send the lead in an e-mail with a link to the full story on your site.

PLACEMENT TIPS

ePregnancy.com, an online publication, has spun off a new print publication--ePregnancy Magazine. Published by Majestic Media, Park City, Utah, the magazine will hit newsstands this month with Nancy Price and Betsy Gartrell-Judd as the founding editors.

Regular topics in the magazine will include fertility and preconception, fitness, nutrition, food and recipes, pregnancy health, beauty and wellness, preparing for birth, postpartum, baby care and the styles and fashions for moms-to-be.

The first issue features a story on Liza Elliott-Ramirez, founder of Expecting Models, a talent agency representing expectant and nursing models.

(Media news continued on next page)

PBS EXECUTIVE RAPS MEDIA COMPANIES

Pat Mitchell, CEO of PBS and a former CNN executive, said her previous employer and other media companies are trying to woo young adult viewers with entertainment at the expense of real news.

"For me, this trend reached its apex when CNN's `TalkBack Live' did a feature in March about the 51 journalists who died in the line of duty in 2001," she wrote in a column for USA Today.

To discuss this tragedy and the reasons journalism is so much more dangerous today, TalkBack Live had a special guest: actress Andie MacDowell, who had been in a recent movie playing the wife of a missing photographer.

The actress is "thoughtful and engaging, but far from an expert on the subject," Mitchell wrote. "I accept that our culture has gone from Ozzie and Harriet to Ozzy Osbourne. But do we have to accept that our public dialogue has gone from Edward R. Murrow to Andie MacDowell?

"Although the young-adult demographic might prefer it, the ratings might support it, and the network stockholders might be happy with it, the answer must be no," she wrote.

The PBS chief also criticized CBS for interviewing unsuccessful "Survivor" contestants on the network's morning show as if they were actually newsworthy.

Mitchell said the drive for younger adults is why shows like "Survivor" and "Fear Factor" are on TV and why "Nightline's" Ted Koppel almost lost his job to make room for late-night host David Letterman.

EX-BEATLE CHARGES MEDIA FOR PHOTOS

Media outlets had to pay a photo fee of $1,400 to get photos of Paul and Heather McCartney's wedding at Castle Leslie in Ireland.

Peter Johnson, media news columnist for USA Today, said photographers for news agencies such as the Associated Press were barred from the wedding, meaning papers had to pay the photo fee. People, US, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, "Entertainment Tonight," and the network morning shows were among the media outlets that paid for the photos.

Several big newspapers, including USA Today, The New York Times and The Washington Post, which objected to the fee, did not buy any photos.

The fees for one-time use of the photos were donated to Adopt-A-Minefield, an anti-minefield group, which is a favorite charity of Heather McCartney.

FERGIE TO HOST TALK-VARIETY SHOW

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, will host a one-hour syndicated talk-variety show earmarked for the 2003-4 TV season.

Amy Rosenblum will develop and produce the show, called "Fergie," for Universal TV Enterprises.

DOBBS TO WRITE SYNDICATED COLUMN

Lou Dobbs, financial journalist for CNN, will write a weekly syndicated column for Tribune Media Services, starting June 23.

The column will expand beyond traditional economic topics, focusing on issues about the political economy, society and government, among others.

"My column covers economics, politics, the military, science, education and society itself because the news events and the issues of our day have the potential to threaten our quality of life. They're profoundly important to us all and more so today than at any time in recent memory," said Dobbs.

MEDIA BRIEFS

VNR-1 Communications says its new study shows newsrooms still want faxes when it comes to getting information about video news releases.

The phone survey, which targeted news managers in the top 50 U.S. TV markets, shows 97% of the 176 stations that responded prefer fax to e-mail or wire service.

Bloomberg Radio has begun broadcasting its Spanish-language radio report, "Reporte Financiero Bloomberg" throughout Latin America.

ABC's "Good Morning America" will start its own monthly book club on June 13 in a segment called "Read This."

Since the demise of Oprah Winfrey's on-air book club, NBC's "Today," "Live With Regis and Kelly" and USA Today have started book clubs.

Dow Jones said year-to-date ad linage in The Wall Street Journal is down 23.7%, and national ad pages in Barron's have fallen 14.9%.

Across the board weakness in technology advertising combined with weakness in communications, automotive, travel and professional services advertising were partially offset by an increase in insurance and healthcare advertising, DJ said.

The Boston Globe has begun selling a new electronic version of the print edition. Subscribers can download an exact replica of the printed paper in a format that can be read on computer screens.

Merrill Brown, the founding editor of MSNBC.com, has resigned.

Bill Press and Patrick Buchanan, who faced off on CNN's "Crossfire" for many years, are moving to MSNBC, where they will be hosts of a new mid-afternoon program.

Ed Needham, 37, who is editor-in-chief of the British-owned FHM (For Him Magazine), is joining Rolling Stone magazine as managing editor. Needham replaces Robert Love, who left in April.

OMC STOCK TANKS

(continued from page 1)

audit committee chairman Robert Callander resigned his board seat after posing questions about Seneca, the off-balance sheet vehicle created for OMC's 16 Internet company investments.

Wren, in the Journal, denied that his firm was a 'serial acquirer," and described the conglomerate as a simple business that has great credibility on Wall Street. The firm released a statement to criticize bias and innuendo in the WSJ piece. OMC's stock led the percentage losers on the Big Board June 12 by plunging 20 percent (or $15.28) to $62.28.

Hit with fraud suit

Omnicom "materially misrepresented" its financial results through the use of "improper accounting methods in connection with certain acquisitions" alleges a class action lawsuit filed against the communications giant in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last week.

Wolf Popper LLP filed the complaint on behalf of shareholders who purchased shares in Omnicom from April 25, 2000 to June 11, 2002.

The plaintiff alleges that Omnicom "fraudulently and misleadingly" reported growth in "organic" revenue that actually stemmed from acquired companies, and failed to disclose Omnicom's future obligations related to its acquisitions. The suit also charges that Omnicom transferred minority investments in Inter-net companies to Seneca to "avoid writing down the value of its investments."

OMC Faces 'Crisis of Confidence'

Omnicom faces a `crisis of confidence' among investors that is likely to continue in the near-term unless Wren tackles 'open issues,' according to a report by SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Those include issues surrounding how it determines internal and acquisition growth, investments in Seneca that is home to its various Internet company investments, and the resignation of audit committee chairman Bob Callander.

STRH, which has downgraded Omnicom's shares to 'neutral' from "outperform" also is concerned that future WSJ stories could further hammer the ad conglomerate's shares.

Uses Different Accounting Yardstick

STRH notes that OMC uses a different yardstick to account for organic growth from acquisitions than either Interpublic or WPP Group. OMC doesn't exclude revenue from acquired companies from the organic growth category for the first year of ownership, as does IPG and WPP. Wren's firm "excludes from organic growth the revenue run rate at the time a company is acquired but includes in organic growth any revenue during the first 12 months above that initial run rate level," explains the STRH report.

The ad conglomerate has been using that method, which produces a higher growth rate than that of IPG or WPP, for more than 10 years. The investment bank feels that OMC should use the same rules as IPG and WPP as an "important step in rebuilding investor confidence."

STRH also has questions about earnouts (It says "OMC currently has about $250M-$350M in total expected earnout payments over the next five years that are not carried on the company's balance sheet as a liability."); calculation of new business wins ("Net New Business Wins calculations are even more controversial than organic growth rate calculations-each agency holding company does the calculation differently and the Net New Business Wins calculation figures are unaudited and based on management estimates."), and P/E multiple (OMC has traded at a 20 percent to 30 percent premium to IPG. As a result of the crisis of confidence, STRH believes "OMC is likely to trade closer to the group level in the near term until management rebuilds credibility and investors get comfortable" with the various issues facing OMC.).

The investment firm does commend OMC for its high-quality assets, strong cash flow and a valuation that is at a five-year low on a forward P/E basis.

ANALYSTS TELL GRIPES AT NIRI MEETING

Security analysts aired their gripes about IR at the annual conference of the National Investor Relations Institute June 1-5 in Palm Desert, Calif.

They don't like:

Companies that are focused on their stock price rather than the business; bad news being released on Friday afternoon; pro forma earnings reports; "dressed up versions of the facts" being given to some analysts while different versions are given to "favorites"; needless complexity; "good old boy directors," and options worth "tens of millions" for non-performing executives.

Here's what they want:

"To be treated like the U.N. secretary-general" or at least, "reasonably well"; "One-on-ones" with the CEO, CFO and others at least once a year; credibility and clarity; stocks that are under-valued and can promise above-average return, and fnancials that are more "transparent and timely."

McCahon Talks about Link

Jane McCahon, IR counselor based in Sudbury, Mass., and 2001 chair of NIRI, moderated the panel and said just about everyone in IR has long known of the link between analyst stock recommendations and investment banking.

David Parker, director of equity research, Robert W. Baird & Co., Tampa, said the issue had never come up in his nearly 20 years in the securities industry.

Parker said it's impossible for companies always to have "buy" ratings because eventually the stock gets priced according to its merits and then deserves a "hold."

But he said one company he did that to left him off the list for the next conference call and would not let him in on the queue when he learned of the call on his own.

"I was hopping mad," said Parker. He said the situation is now "fixed" but that the incident "has hurt this company and its credibility with me."

If there's a continuous "buy" on a stock then the IR person is not doing his or her job, said Parker.

The Wall Street Journal's expose of the questionable finances of Omnicom and OMC's inept reaction to the expose are major problems not only for OMC but for all in ad/PR.

CEO John Wren and CFO Randy Weisenburger, in scheduling a teleconference with analysts only on June 12, the day the WSJ bombshell exploded, showed again that they are avoiding the press.

Instead of fielding telephone questions from a select few analysts, Wren and Weisenburger should have called a press conference and faced both analysts and the press in person.

What we have is two accountants (Wren came out of Arthur Andersen in 1984) accusing the WSJ of "numerous inaccuracies and some improper innuendos" and agreeing with an analyst who asked, "You feel that it (the article) is totally inaccurate?"

Yet, when pressed by the WSJ for even a single inaccuracy, Pat Sloan, former New York editor of Advertising Age who handles PR for OMC, was unable to provide any.

OMC, in losing $8 billion of its $18B market value at one point, dragged down the stocks of all the other public ad/PR agencies.

The attitude of Wren and Weisenburger was obvious at the teleconference.

In spite of copious evidence to the contrary, they continued to maintain that OMC is practicing disclosure to the limit of human possibility.

However, asked about the 71 acquisitions OMC has made in the past two years (and $2.4 billion spent in the past three years plus $250 million or so owed in payouts) they failed to provide any new information. Vague promises were made about providing links on the OMC website to subsidiaries that make the purchases (with OMC stock).

Weisenburger said that identifying the companies might hurt OMC competitively since the other big agencies compete for the same properties and would find out about it.

This doesn't make sense. Of course the other big agencies would know exactly whom OMC is buying.

Wren got two million options last year, raising his pay from $3 million the year before to an estimated $97M in 2001, making him one of the highest paid CEOs in New York (second only to Sandy Weill of Citigroup), said Advertising Age in quoting Don Delves of Chicago, who analyzes option grants. Weisenburger, who has been with OMC four years, does not own any stock in the company, according to proxy statements and other materials.

Asked by Alan Fine, president of the Metropolitan Group of Minneapolis (who is not on OMC's list of analysts following the stock) about that day's $20 dip in the stock price, Wren replied there was "absolutely no concern whatsoever about the company, its clients, or its operations... there's been nothing fundamentally that happened here, nothing whatsoever, other than the WSJ article..."

Wren said "everybody was stunned" by the article, believing a WSJ article two days earlier on the resignation of Robert Callander as chair of the audit committee was the end of the paper's current interest in OMC.

Fine, who is a business consultant, professional speaker and author, also asked if there was any concern about accounting irregularities or "anything going on with the SEC?"

Wren said some confusion was created by OMC itself by incorrectly telling Callander that the deal that spun off OMC's ownership of its dot-com properties was not cleared by him. Wren said it was cleared under a different name and Callander "was very upset about this, at least that is what I am aware of."

While Fine was able to ask his questions, some working analysts told us they were not able to ask theirs.

The call was ended after about 50 minutes (instead of the promised one hour) when the moderator said there were no further questions. Many topics went uncovered including the $2.9 billion debt of OMC; the "staggering" number of options just issued to insiders (Merrill Lynch's characterization), and sales of $72 million in OMC stock by insiders. A transcript of the call is at www.omnicomgroup.com under "investor relations."

Not on the call was analyst Lauren Fine of Merrill Lynch, who flipped from a "strong buy" to a "buy" for OMC on May 30, only to reverse herself on June 7 by calling OMC "an intermediate-term strong buy." ML holds 739,000 shares of OMC, having increased its holdings by 164,000 (29%) in Q1. It also handled the 2001 zero-coupon $850 million convertible bond offering of OMC, on which the commission was $30M. Morgan Stanley, which upgraded OMC from a neutral to a buy on June 7, has 3.2M shares, having raised its total by 1.6M in Q1.

Time mag of June 17 had some interesting "remedies" for restoring investor confidence. One was to move from rules-based GAAP accounting ("generally accepted accounting principles) to "principles" based accounting such as is used in Europe. GAAP rules tend to become loopholes. The standard should be the "spirit" of the rules and not the literal rules themselves, says Time. Another remedy: companies should not be used as the private banks of execs, i.e., no loans to execs. Omnicom loaned XVP Michael Greenlees $2 million to buy a home. The loan matures March 31, 2003.
--Jack O'Dwyer