# Presentation: 719523

## National Investor Survey

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**
**September 12, 2000**

## Methodology

**Penn, Schoen & Berland interviewed 600 investors nationally by telephone, a cross-section of all American investors**
**Currently invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds or in a retirement plan such as an IRA or 401(k)**
**Make or help make the major investment decisions in their households**
**Large, small, and medium-sized investors represented – 27% have portfolios less than $50,000**
**A****ged 25 and over**
**59% say they actively manage their investment portfolio**
**51% are female, 49% are male**
**All interviews were conducted from Penn, Schoen & Berland’s central field facility in Denver, CO from August 30 to September 6, 2000**
**Margin of error is ****±4% at the 95% confidence interval**
**The survey was commissioned by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants**

## Investors Confident In Audit

## Nine in ten investors say annual audit of financial statements is credible

**Nine in ten investors say annual audit of financial statements is credible**

***How would you rate the credibility of the annual audit of financial statements of the corporations you invest in?***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Investors Trust The Audit Committee And The Board 

## By a margin of three to one, investors say the Audit Committee and Board should decide what services the audit firm should provide 

**By a margin of three to one, investors say the Audit Committee and Board should decide what services the audit firm should provide **

***The Audit Committee and the rest of the company Board of Directors are best positioned to determine whether or not the provision of any particular service by the audit firm is inappropriate***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## By a three to one margin, investors say the Audit Committee and the Board generally act in the interest of shareholders

**By a three to one margin, investors say the Audit Committee and the Board generally act in the interest of shareholders**

***The Audit Committee and the rest of the company Board of Directors generally act in the best interests of shareholders***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## By a seven to one margin, investors say the Audit Committee and the Board should decide which auditor to hire

**By a seven to one margin, investors say the Audit Committee and the Board should decide which auditor to hire**

***The Audit Committee and the rest of the company Board of Directors should continue to be responsible for overseeing company financial decisions and practices, including which auditor to hire***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Investors Reject Government Intervention

## By a three to one margin, investors say regulators should not play a bigger role than they do now regulating what services accounting firms provide

**By a three to one margin, investors say regulators should not play a bigger role than they do now regulating what services accounting firms provide**

***Should regulators play a bigger role, smaller role, or about the same role as they do now prohibiting accounting firms from offering a range of services, for example information technology consulting, to any clients they audit?***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Quality of Audit May Suffer From Prohibitions on Consulting

## By a four to one margin, investors agree that the more auditors know about the company, the better the audit

**By a four to one margin, investors agree that the more auditors know about the company, the better the audit**

***The more auditors know about the company, the better the audit***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Prohibiting consulting by audit firms will hurt the quality of audits

**Prohibiting consulting by audit firms will hurt the quality of audits**

***If this prohibition is implemented, audit firms will know less about the companies they audit and the quality of the audit may suffer***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Investors Prefer Disclosure To Prohibitions

## Nine in ten investors want to know if a company’s auditor also provides other services

**Nine in ten investors want to know if a company’s auditor also provides other services**

***It would be important for shareholders to know if a company’s auditor also provides consulting services to that company***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Investors Need New Types Of Investment Information

## Investors need new types of investment information

**Investors need new types of investment information**

***Percent Saying Necessary***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Investor Demographics

## Portfolio value

**Portfolio value**

***For statistical purposes only, we need to know the value of your total investment portfolio.  Will you please tell me which of the following best represents your total investment portfolio, including any 401(k) or IRA accounts, but excluding any company pension for which you do not make investment decisions?***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Age

**Age**

***Please tell me in which category you fall***

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**

## Gender

**Gender**

**Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates**