Washington ? A House committee moved Thursday to subpoena top officials of discredited WorldCom Inc. as President Bush voiced concern about the potential economic impact of the accounting scandal.

Bush spoke of “corporate leaders who have not upheld their responsibilities,” while Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill urged jail terms for executives who falsely certify company finances.

A mansion under construction on a nearly four-acre property in Boca Raton, Fla., is being built for former WorldCom chief financial officer Scott Sullivan. Sullivan, who was fired Tuesday, will be getting a subpoena to testify July 8 before the House Financial Services Committee.

It was more tough talk from the administration amid a crisis of confidence in corporate America that could threaten a tenuous economic recovery.

On Capitol Hill, the House Financial Services Committee authorized subpoenas to compel testimony by three WorldCom officials and an influential Wall Street analyst who promoted the company’s stock. The four, including former President and Chief Executive Officer Bernard Ebbers and current chief John Sidgmore, will be summoned to appear at a July 8 hearing.

The Securities and Exchange Commission worked on its investigation of WorldCom after filing civil fraud charges against the company Wednesday. The action came a day after the telecommunications company disclosed having disguised nearly $4 billion in expenses from the investing public.

The SEC also sought to prevent the destruction of documents by WorldCom and payouts to company executives while the agency investigates.

Its lawsuit in federal court in New York cited “a scheme directed and approved by … senior management” in 2001 and the first quarter of this year to manipulate earnings to keep them in line with estimates by Wall Street analysts.

The administration also has left open the possibility of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department.

Bush on Wednesday termed “outrageous” the conduct of WorldCom, the nation’s second-largest long-distance telephone carrier. “We will fully investigate and hold people accountable for misleading not only shareholders but employees as well,” he said.

Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, said after the panel voted to issue the subpoenas, “Sadly, the news brings us yet another incident of accounting overreach. These alleged short-term gains created by the executives are going to cause long-term pain for WorldCom families.”

One summons is going to telecom stock analyst Jack Grubman of investment firm Salomon Smith Barney, a longtime booster of WorldCom stock who downgraded his recommendation for the company on Monday. He said the downgrade had nothing to do with WorldCom’s troubles.

Lawmakers say analysts at Wall Street brokerages rated certain stocks highly so that their firms could obtain lucrative investment-banking business. That business includes arranging and financing companies’ first sales of stock to the public.

Also getting a subpoena to testify is former WorldCom chief financial officer Scott Sullivan. Fired by the company Tuesday, he appears to be at the center of the accounting mess.

O’Neill, a former chief executive of Alcoa Inc., said of WorldCom’s accounting problem: “It’s not possible for it to have been done by one individual. The scope of what they’ve done at WorldCom requires complicity of quite a few people, I think, because the numbers are so huge. The accounting technique they used is so fundamental it’s just mind-boggling.”