Public Policy Issues Raised by the Report of the Lehman Bankruptcy Examiner

Abstract:     
This statement addresses the following issues of public policy in the context of the Lehman failure: The extent to which corporate governance should be enhanced to appropriately manage firm risk.

The role of the SEC as Lehman’s primary regulator in oversight, examination and enforcement in advance of Lehman’s bankruptcy filing, and the role of the other government agencies, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), that were monitoring Lehman during the crisis; The relationship and means of communication, especially formal and informal information sharing, between the SEC and FRBNY as Lehman’s financial condition deteriorated as well as between Lehman, the SEC, the Treasury Department, the Board of Governors Federal Reserve, and the FRBNY.

The appropriateness of accounting practices such as Repo 105 or 108 and the adequacy of the disclosure of such accounting practices.

The quality of Lehman’s Management Discussion and Analysis disclosures in its public filings for the 2007 reporting periods.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 27

Keywords: Regulation, banking, fraud, corruption, criminology, white collar crime, mortgage fraud, officer and director liability

JEL Classification: G21, G23, G24, G28, K14, K23, K42

working papers series