New legal and regulatory requirements for chief executives to certify their companies' accounts are spreading disquiet and confusion through corporate America.

A few chief executives are privately threatening not to sign off on their financial reports before an August 14th deadline set by Mr Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while others are facing up to restating past accounts.

By next Wednesday, chief executives and chief financial officers at about 700 big US companies are supposed to have filed sworn statements with the SEC that their accounts for 2001 and the first half of 2002 are true.

About 600 have yet to file their statements, prompting concern that there is more bad news to come.

Mr Byron Wien, senior investment strategist at Morgan Stanley, castigated chief executives earlier this week for not filing early. "If their numbers are legitimate, they should answer the [SEC requirements now\]. We should have literally hundreds of companies signing up [earlyAt meetings at the New York Stock Exchange last week, several chief executives said privately they were upset about the deadline.

Lawyers say chief executives who sign up to the accounts and then restate later will lay themselves open to litigation, while those who delay will see their stock prices punished.

Shares in Aon dropped 30 per cent on Wednesday after the insurance broker said it was talking to the SEC in an effort to resolve questions about its accounting. Interpublic, the advertising group, also saw its stock slide 24 per cent after postponing its second-quarter earnings report by a week.

The new corporate reform legislation, signed into law last week, is adding to concerns. It requires the top executives of all US-listed companies to certify their accounts but uses a more sweeping statement that might add to the risk of future lawsuits.

Mr Dennis Block, a partner at law firm Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, SEC>list>total >in total, will meet the SEC deadline. But he says it is harder for smaller companies don>have>- (Financial Times Service)