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In the Wake of Sarbanes-Oxley, PSU Launches the Center for Professional Integrity and Accountability
Author: Jeanie-Marie Price (503-725-3773) (pricej@pdx.edu)
Posted: May 21, 2004


At an event Monday morning examining the collapse of Enron, Portland State University's School of Business Administration will unveil the Center for Professional Integrity and Accountability.

The Center was developed to articulate and accentuate organizational management and the accounting profession's responsibility for acting in the public interest.

"The formation of a Center such as this one is important because of the turmoil in the corporate world over the past couple of years," said Phil Bogue, retired managing partner of Arthur Andersen. "The center will be a place to study what happened and what will prevent it from happening again in the future, as well as create a place where regulatory issues can be debated and worked on."

Bogue and his wife Suzanne have provided the School of Business Administration with funding to launch the center. Although the center is still evolving, the goal is to bring together faculty, students and business leaders to create a forum to explore issues related to business integrity and the public interest.

"With the establishment of this center, we hope to raise the awareness of students, faculty, and the civic and business communities to the importance of acting in the public interest and to collectively explore alternative ways of doing so," said Jesse Dillard, the School of Business Administration's Retzlaff Chair in Accounting and director of the center.

On Monday, May 24, Portland State University's School of Business Administration and the Lewis & Clark Law School will host "The Enron Collapse: A Case Study in Business and Regulatory Failure." The event will feature John Kroger, prosecutor on the Justice Department's Enron Task Force and assistant professor of law at Lewis & Clark. The event begins at 7:15 a.m. at the Multnomah Athletic Club. To RSVP call 503-725-4763 or e-mail development@sba.pdx.edu.

Portland State University's accounting program is the largest program in the state and is widely regarded as one of the premier training grounds for accountants in the region. PSU students' average pass rate on the CPA exam is historically twice the national average and the highest in Oregon. Portland State's School of Business Administration is the largest business school in Oregon, with more than 500 graduate and 2,000 undergraduate students enrolled each year.

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Sources:

Kristin Mihalko (503-725-3766)
PSU School of Business Administration

Release Number: 04-070
Date: May 21, 2004