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By Suzanna Kerridge, 30 July 2002 16:40

NEWS Top IT executives are coming under scrutiny from US financial watchdogs who are keen to find out if there are more WorldComs waiting to happen. In the wake of Enron, WorldCom and more recently Qwest, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is eager to promote more honesty among companies and has asked senior execs to sign a statement testifying to the accuracy of their most recent financial results. Almost 2,000 CEOs and CFOs, representing 947 companies, are required to swear to the statement. A full list has been posted on the SEC website: http://www.sec.gov/rules/extra/ceocfo.htm However, to date only nine companies have signed up including tech stalwarts Delphi, EDS and Qualcomm. Other names on the list include 3Com, Cisco, HP, IBM and Intel. The proposal has provoked a mixed reaction among Silicon Valley's great and good, according to reports in the San Jose Mercury News. Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems, was reported to have complained about the request, claiming it places an undue burden on executives and leaves them open to litigation. However, a Sun spokeswoman hastily pointed out to silicon.com that this did not mean the company will not comply with the SEC's orders. A spokesman for Cisco said: "We've been looked at very closely since Enron and there have been a lot of allegations - all without substance. "We have been very vigilant and co-operated with various SEC schemes like this. We are trying to be as transparent as possible."