February 14, 2003

Switzerland's biggest companies are discovering pain of being based in country with strong, stable currency as they report their annual performance for 2002; sales at Ciba Specialty Chemicals fell 4 percent in Swiss franc terms; sales plummeted 8 percent in Swiss francs at Adecco; Novartis, also calculating in Swiss francs, reports modest 2 percent rise; companies and analysts say look at figures in currencies where sales were generated gives brighter, and more realistic, picture; in local currency terms, Ciba's sales actually rose 3.3 percent, Adecco's dropped only 3 percent and Novartis's rose 11 percent; graph (M)

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column discusses New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who is coming down hard on manager Joe Torre and highly paid shortstop Derek Jeter after two seasons without championship, harkening back to hostile Steinbrenner of years past; photo (M)

Senate Finance Committee is told Wall Street banks, acting on advice of leading lawyers and accounting firms, helped Enron devise tax shelters that let company operate tax-free for years while exaggerating its reported profits by billions; senators say findings, in three-volume report by staff of Joint Committee on Taxation, raises disturbing questions about reliability of corporate financial reporting; Sens Charles E Grassley and Max Baucus pledge to campaign for legislation closing abusive tax shelters and to push for further reform of acccounting rules and enforcement of ethical standards governing accountants and lawyers; Lindy L Paull, chief of joint committee staff, says Enron's tax department 'was converted into an Enron business unit, complete with annual revenue targets'; report says tax shelters were intended to allow Enron to book $2 billion of profits almost immediately, even as company was saving $2 billion on federal income taxes over period of years; chart; photos (M)

Seoul's Mayor Lee Myung Bak and South Korea's Pres-elect Roh Moo Hyun present ambitious plans for Inchon, 30 miles from Seoul, before foreign officials and business executives gathered in Inchon; say Seoul can become financial center of Northeast Asia; officials seem oblivious to mounting international tensions over North Korea's nuclear weapons program and possibility of military conflict between North and US; photo (M)

South Korea's