The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has released "Financially Correct," a video program that it has produced to help educate the public about why high-quality financial reporting is so important to investors and the efficiency of the financial markets. During the program, five renowned authorities on financial reporting discuss the importance of and need for reliable, credible and comparable financial information and how it serves investors and the economy.

Ben Stein, author and entertainer, hosts the program and interviews several leaders in the financial reporting and investment worlds.

Those sharing their views in the forty-minute video program are Warren E. Buffett, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.; Abby Joseph Cohen, Chair, Investment Policy Committee, Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean, Yale School of Management and former Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade; Judy C. Lewent, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Merck & Co. Inc.; and Floyd Norris, Chief Financial Correspondent, The New York Times.

These participants contributed commentary on a variety of subjects, including:

• Why high-quality financial reporting is necessary to investors and the economy;
• How accounting is used by professional money managers;
• Why investors are not willing to pay for lower quality earnings;
• How higher reporting standards drive excellence; and
• Why "managing" earnings results in short-lived stock price increases.

In commenting on "Financially Correct," FASB Chairman Edmund L. Jenkins, stated that, "The FASB views the investor as the ‘customer’ of financial reporting. Just as corporations are customer-focused, we focus on the investor. This was a driving force behind producing a video that would raise the public’s awareness about why high-quality financial reporting is a necessity. Our objective is to make sure that investors have the financial information they need to make well-informed investment decisions. Having credible, comparable and transparent information is essential to that process."

You can view a detailed description of the video. A copy of "Financially Correct," along with an accompanying instructor’s guide, may be purchased for $15 by placing an order on-line or by contacting the FASB’s Order Department at 800-748-0659. The charge is to cover the costs of packaging, duplication and distribution.