Accounting firms want change

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SCOTT JAGOW: The world’s majpr accounting firms are calling for big changes in the way companies report their performance. Here’s Stephen Beard:

STEPHEN BEARD: Six major firms, among them PWC and Deloitte, say the company reporting system is broken.

They argue that along with earnings and cash flow, companies should be required to provide non-financial data like the level of employee turnover or customer complaints.

And instead of quarterly reporting, they should provide a free-flow of information over the Internet.

Barney Jopson of the Financial Times:

BARNEY JOPSON: The vision might be that everyday investors, analysts can get in to the office and they’ll get a customized feed from the companies they’re following with all the information they want about what that company has done in the past day.

Many companies are expected to reject the proposed reform because producing all this extra information will be expensive.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.