As the famously hands-on CEO of Alcoa Inc., Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill was loath to miss a stray carpet tack, let alone an anomaly in his company's financial data. That's why, as the official charged with giving President George W. Bush a report in the coming weeks on Enron Corp.'s implications for corporate governance, O'Neill is talking tough. His big idea: requiring CEOs to sign a financial-health affirmation statement that would make them more liable for Enron-style misrepresentations, whether intentional or not. O'Neill's desire to increase corporate accountability―outlined in a Feb. 12 interview with BusinessWeek and touched on in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago on Feb. 25―is music to shareholder advocates' ears. But it has ignited a furious debate inside the White House, pitting the President's more ideological economic advisers against the pragmatic Treasury chief.
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机译：作为著名的美国铝业公司（Alcoa Inc.）亲手实践的首席执行官，美国财政部长保罗·奥尼尔（Paul H. O'Neill）不想错过一个漫不经心的地毯，更不用说公司财务数据的异常了。这就是为什么当官员在接下来的几周内向乔治·W·布什总统提交一份关于安然公司对公司治理的影响的报告时，奥尼尔正在强硬地讲话。他的主意是：要求首席执行官签署一份财务健康确认书，使他们对安然式的虚假陈述（无论是否故意）承担更大的责任。奥尼尔在2月12日接受《商业周刊》采访时概述了这一愿望，并在2月25日在芝加哥经济俱乐部的一次演讲中提到了这一愿望，这在股东倡导者的耳中是一种音乐。但这引发了白宫内部的激烈辩论，使总统更具意识形态的经济顾问与务实的财政部长相提并论。
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