FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                            2000-133

                              
 Agenda for Public Hearings on Proposed Auditor Independence
                            Rules


       Washington, DC, September 18, 2000 -- Today the
Commission released the following agenda for public hearings
on proposed auditor independence rules to be held in
Washington, DC on September 21, 2000:


8:30 am:  Robert K. Elliott, Chairman
          Barry Melancon, President
            and Chief Executive Officer
          Harold L. Monk, Jr., Chairman of the PCPS
            Executive Committee
          [Representing the American Institute of Certified
          Public Accountants]

          Stephen G. Butler, Chairman
            KPMG LLP

11:30 am: Donald C. Smaltz
            Independent Counsel
     
11:45 am: Jack Maurice, Member of the Ethics Working Party
            European Federation of Accountants (FEE)
     
          Abraham J. Briloff, Professor Emeritus
            Baruch College
     
          Don N. Kleinmuntz, Professor of
            Business Administration
            College of Commerce and Business Administration
            University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
     
          Urton Anderson, Clark W. Thompson Jr. Professor
            of Accounting Education
            McCombs School of Business
            University of Texas at Austin