All articles by Joe Mont – Page 79
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Article
SEC’s Disclosure Review Reignites Debate Over Forward-Looking Information
Companies, regulators, and investors have long debated the role of forward-looking information in disclosures, reports, and financial statements. In a new report, the CFA calls on the SEC to a use comprehensive disclosure review to decide what forward-looking information should be required in corporate disclosures and financial reports in particular. ...
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Article
Raising the Bar on Year-Two Conflict Minerals Disclosures
Image: Title: WallerstedtThe first year of conflict minerals disclosures was basically a trial run, with low expectations. Companies are now working on the next round of filings, and the SEC’s expectations for detail will be greater, experts say. The task is to move beyond mere data collection and push compliance ...
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Blog
Bank Executives, Boards Urged to Share Cyber-Risk Data
Bank executives and directors are getting another new guidance from the multi-agency Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. The guidance encourages management and boards to ask questions about how accountability is determined for managing cyber-risks; the process for ensuring employee awareness; what is reported to the board on cyber-security events; the ...
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Blog
Bio-Rad Laboratories Will Pay $55M to Settle FCPA Charges
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Bio-Rad Laboratories, a life sciences research company, with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when its subsidiaries made improper payments to foreign officials in Russia, Vietnam, and Thailand to win business. The company, which self-reported the misconduct, agreed to pay $55 million to ...
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Blog
Brazil Gets Praise and a Push from OECD on Anti-Bribery Efforts
Oct. 30—Brazil is getting both a pat on the back and a push forward from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development regarding its anti-bribery efforts. OECD’s Working Group on Bribery said this week that Brazil “must build on the positive momentum” started with its new Corporate Liability Law and ...
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Blog
Companies Analyzed Pay-for-Performance, Didn’t Tell Shareholders
While nearly 60 percent of public companies have conducted an executive-pay-for-performance analysis, nearly two-thirds of them didn’t tell shareholders those results, according to new research from professional services firm Towers Watson. When asked why they did not discuss their pay-for-performance analysis, most said they are waiting for new SEC disclosure ...
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Blog
Study: Paying Firms Get First Look at SEC’s EDGAR Filings
Oct. 29—A new study finds that a select group of professional investors gets an advance look at soon-to-be-public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Researchers found that a small group of subscribers who pay SEC-selected vendors for data feeds, among them hedge funds and high-frequency traders, receive access ...
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ArticleHow to Tell if Your Whistleblower Hotline Is Effective
As companies strive to keep investigations internal, rather than risk high-profile regulatory intervention, improving the hotlines they use to solicit employee tips and concerns is crucial. Using metrics and industry benchmarks can help, but measuring the effectiveness of internal whistleblower efforts may be the hardest part. Some tips and trends ...
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Article
As Tech Firms Enter the Payments Space, Regulators Are Watching
Last month Apple plunged into the world of payment processing with its Apple Pay service that allows its mobile devices to make payments at retailers. Rivals Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have already dabbled in the market that includes Pay Pal and several others. These disruptive technologies may prompt regulators to ...
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Blog
Podcast: The Trends Revealed by Company Codes of Conduct
Earlier this month, the University of Houston released a searchable database of the compliance codes for Fortune 500 companies. In our latest podcast we talk to Ryan McConnell, who teaches international corporate compliance at the school, about what the database tells us about how companies approach such topics as social ...
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Podcast
Podcast: The Trends Revealed by Company Codes of Conduct
Earlier this month, the University of Houston Law Center, building upon a program first launched in 2010, released a searchable database of the compliance codes for Fortune 500 companies. In our latest podcast, we talk to Houston attorney Ryan McConnell, an adjunct professor who teaches international corporate compliance, about what ...
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Blog
SEC Updates Financial Reporting Manual
The SEC has updated its Financial Reporting Manual, a guidebook intended to help SEC staff review compliance with reporting and disclosure rules. The update addresses transactions that cause a foreign private issuer to cease being a shell company, “backdoor” listings by foreign companies, the treatment of predecessor financial statements, and ...
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Blog
Few Countries Make Good on OECD Anti-Bribery Pledge
Oct. 23—Despite a 15-year-old promise to do so, many of the world’s leading economies are failing to do enough to prevent corruption and bribery. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Anti-Bribery Convention, adopted in 1997, was a pledge by 41 countries to make foreign bribery a crime. Years later, ...
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Blog
Regulators Jointly Approve New Risk Retention Rules
Image: Title: Regulators Jointly Approve NewOct. 23—The SEC has adopted final rules for the asset-backed securities market that will require securitizers to retain no less than five percent of the credit risk of the assets they securitize. The rule was adopted one day after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal ...
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Blog
Fed Official Warns Banks: Fix Culture Problem or be Downsized
Two Federal Reserve officials issued stern warnings regarding bank compliance efforts last week. William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said that if financial institutions don’t fix their culture problem, they risk being broken apart. Meanwhile, Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo blasted banks that take a “check ...
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ArticleMany Countries, One Compliance Approach
The Compliance Week Europe conference, an annual event held last week in Brussels, drew attendees from 22 countries, many of whom represented companies that do business in an even greater number of nations. Building and maintaining an effective compliance program that is consistent across multinational borders is not an easy ...
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Blog
Report: Fed Knew About, Failed to Stop JPMorgan's London Whale Trades
Oct. 21—The Federal Reserve failed to act on knowledge of high-risk trading activities at JPMorgan Chase’s London investment office and should shoulder blame for a $6 billion loss the bank suffered from its ill-fated “London Whale” derivatives trades in 2012. That criticism is leveled by the Fed’s Office of Inspector ...
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ArticleSEC Searching for Rules Violations in Piles of Data.
One of the more significant trends in enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission recently may not be immediately obvious.Last month, an enforcement sweep resulted in charges and fines against 28 officers, directors, and other shareholders for failing to promptly report required information about their holdings and transactions in ...
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