Accounting Oversight Board Chair in Flux

Is he or isn't he? That's the question on accounting industry observers' lips as Securities and Exchange Chairman Harvey Pitt appears to have scuttled the nomination of pension chief John H. Biggs to head the new accounting reform board. According to the New York Times, at Pitt’s behest, Biggs accepted the job earlier this week, but then bowed to intense lobbying against his appointment from those who feel he’s too harsh a critic of the profession.