Articles | Compliance Week – Page 280
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Debate continues over the practice of quarterly reporting
Amid discussion about reforms to the SEC’s disclosure regime, perhaps no idea is as controversial as the rethinking of how frequently companies must disclose financial information. While it may seem a cornerstone of public filings, quarterly 10-Q financial statements have only been an SEC requirement since 1970. There’s now a ...
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Revenue recognition: full retrospective, modified retrospective, or somewhere in-between
Companies looking to implement the new revenue standard are faced with the difficult choice of going full retrospective, modified retrospective, or somewhere in-between. Those at the forefront of implementing the standard are starting to favor the idea of presenting three complete years of historical data under the new rules, but ...
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OCC will add "recovery plans" alongside big bank stress tests
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is seeking comment on “enforceable guidance” that will require banks with assets of $50 billion or more to create “recovery plans.” While resolution plans, orchestrated by the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, largely focus on liquidity and asset quality, the ...
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ArticleThink the FTC Isn’t Monitoring Big Data? Think Again
Companies that use Big Data analytics will want to carefully review a new report issued this month by the Federal Trade Commission, which warns companies about the sort of ethical, legal, and compliance risks they could encounter when using data analytics practices that fly in the face of consumer protection ...
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SEC Committee Ups Ante in Fight Against FASB Materiality Changes
Members of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee are ramping up their fight with FASB over proposals that redefine its approach to materiality in financial statements. The plan is “fraught with the risk that disclosures that are unfavorable to the issuer are disproportionately viewed as immaterial and as a result excluded ...
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New DoL Guidance Has Chilling Effect on Third-Party Relationships
Does your company use sub-contractors or have franchisees? Ever put a vendor compliance program in place? If so, new guidance from the Department of Labor is about to make life more complicated. It broadens how joint employer relationships—where two or more companies cooperatively employ workers—will be defined and applied under ...
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Companies Prep for FASB’s New Take on Leases
Still knee-deep in preparing for the massive new revenue recognition standard, public companies have plenty of reason to start revving up now for another major accounting change on the horizon—the new leasing standard. “As soon as possible—even prior to the issuance of the new leases standard—preparers should consider creating a ...
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Preparing for the EU’s new Data Protection Rule
Sweeping changes to the EU’s data protection laws means new compliance headaches for any U.S. company that collects and handles data on citizens of the European Union. “It’s a game changer, primarily because it sets standards that many companies haven’t had to worry about,” said Hilary Wandall, associate vice president ...
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Top Five Ethics and Compliance Failures of 2015
Same story, different year: pressure from senior leaders, a laissez-faire attitude toward bribery and corruption, and middle managers that neither practice nor value a robust culture of ethics and compliance all resulted in some of the biggest corporate faux pas of 2015. Inside is Compliance Week’s list of the top ...
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Liability Protections Included in New Cyber-Security Law
You may have not even noticed it, but discreetly tucked into the massive omnibus spending bill signed into law last month is a provision that effectively makes it safer for companies to share cyber-threat information with one another—but critics argue the bill doesn’t go far enough to ease privacy concerns.
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Congress’ Year-End Tax Package Has Something for Everyone
Companies have some work to do as they are closing their books on 2015 to tally up the benefits of the annual year-end tax package from Congress and determine how they will reflect those in their tax filings and financial statements. This week, CW accounting writer Tammy Whitehouse looks at ...
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The Silver Lining of Sharing Data on Cyber-Risks
After many months of debate, President Obama finally signed the Cyber-Security Information Sharing Act into law. The question businesses are asking: In practical terms, is it good news or yet another cyber-security-triggered migraine? While concerns abound, notably around privacy issues, companies may still find plenty to appreciate in the legislation ...
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Why Is Treasury Cracking Down on Big, Cash-Only Real Estate Transactions?
The real estate sector has remained an Achilles’ heel in anti-money laundering efforts by U.S. officials. Concerns that all-cash purchases of residential properties may be used to hide and launder illicit assets has prompted the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to demand that title insurance companies report the beneficial owners behind ...
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Bad News for Banks: More Regulatory Risk Is Coming, With a Political Twist
Banks can look forward to a 2016 with additional regulatory risk, with rules layered upon rules, heightened capital requirements, and cyber-security casting an ever-darkening shadow. Even political risk is a reason for concern; With a presidential race underway, calls for breaking up big banks, and reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, are ...
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New Accounting Standard Provides a Host of Potential Changes for Financial Reporting
Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-01 is here, and its impact on how to classify and measure financial instruments will mean different things to different companies, especially when it comes to setting valuation. But with a lack of universal impact, this update will require everyone to take a look at their ...
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Systemic Cases Dominate EEOC Enforcement
Image: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission achieved record enforcement results in 2015 and shows no signs of letting up this year. The good news is that employers now have a leg up in defending EEOC claims where they had little to no leverage before. “The EEOC’s focus on systemic investigations ...
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Mitigating Cyber-Threats From the Inside Out
As attacks on corporate networks become more common, companies are getting more adept at protecting their most valuable assets against cyber-threats outside the company, but it’s the insider threats that continue to elude many. Inside, we walk through the difficult part of insider-threat programs: not just creating the program and ...
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SEC Pushed Toward Creating New Board Composition Disclosures
Image: As businesses become more risk-prone and globalized, investors are demanding that fresh blood be infused into boards. So too are legislators with a desire to leverage SEC disclosures as a tool to bolster the ranks of directors and embed cyber-security knowledge. These efforts place a focus on board composition, ...
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New Sentencing Guidelines Could Alter Fraud Prosecutions
Image: Several important changes to the federal Sentencing Guidelines could drastically reduce the sentences imposed for violations of fraud and antitrust laws, even as the Justice Department heightens its focus on prosecuting individuals in corporate misconduct cases. “Some of the changes in the Sentencing Guidelines are a step in the ...
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SEC Watch: No Respite on Regulatory Reform in 2016
If the SEC had hoped that clearing its plate of most Dodd-Frank Act and JOBS Act mandates would make 2016 a year to focus on other initiatives, well, Washington has other ideas. The agency will be busy with a new round of rulemaking thanks to the FAST Act, plus ongoing ...