The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") is adopting rules to assure a continuing and orderly flow of information to investors and the U.S. capital markets and to minimize any potential disruptions that may occur as a result of the indictment of Arthur Andersen LLP. In addition, the Commission is modifying, in a manner appropriate for the protection of investors, the requirements for including audited financial statements in registration statements under the Securities Act of 1933 and filings required by the Trust Indenture Act of 1939 by registrants that are unable to or elect not to have Andersen issue a manually signed audit report, if the audit report was not issued on or before March 14, 2002. The rules the Commission adopts today, as well as the interpretations set forth in this release, are necessary to effect these modifications. The Commission emphasizes that companies should make their own independent decisions regarding completion of current audits and that these actions are intended only to provide neutral flexibility for companies as they make those decisions. In the document, the Commission also publishes companion orders relating to, among other matters, the inclusion of financial statements in filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 where those filings would have included audited or reviewed financial statements for which Andersen had been engaged as the independent public accountant. To further an understanding of the interactions between the rules we adopt today, the interpretations set forth in this document and the exemptions provided in the orders, this document includes a description of a number of actions taken in those orders.