Raising Risks: A Wall Street Journal article on a recent Senate Banking Committee hearing (“IPO Skids to Get Greased,” March 6, 2012) quotes U.S. securities regulators, legal experts and others who have raised concerns that the JOBS Act “may expose investors to greater risk” without increasing jobs. Among those testifying at the hearing was University of Florida Finance Professor Jay Ritter, who disputed IPO-related jobs claims and said “increasing the number of IPOs isn’t going to automatically spur an enormous amount of job growth.” According to the article, the foundation that oversees the Financial Accounting Standards Board has also raised concerns that the legislation “raises serious issues about the continued independence of the standard-setting process” and jeopardizes the integrity of the accounting standards on which investors and other stakeholder rely.
