He first worked as a drama critic for The Berkshire Eagle, and after the Air Force, he was with Time-Life for five years before selling cattle and ranches as tax shelters.

[citation needed] In 1963, Levitt joined the brokerage firm Carter, Berlind & Weill, founded three years earlier by Sanford I.

[citation needed] Before joining the SEC, Levitt owned Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, which he purchased from the paper's founder, Sid Yudain, in 1986.

It addressed five ways in which corporations were managing earnings (big bath charges, creative acquisition accounting, cookie-jar reserves, materiality, revenue recognition).

[citation needed] In 1997, the SEC under Levitt's leadership approved the exemption of some Enron partnerships from the tight accounting controls of the Investment Company Act of 1940.

[citation needed] During Levitt's tenure at the SEC, he was widely viewed as a pro-investor advocate and received favorable press coverage.

[citation needed] Levitt oversaw an audit published in August 2006, by Kroll Inc. – where he is a consultant – describing how the City of San Diego had allowed a pension deficit of $1.43 billion.

[citation needed] The Arthur Levitt State Office Building in downtown Manhattan was named for him until it was sold to private developers in 2000.