All SEC articles – Page 82
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Blog
SEC Files Crowdfunding Fraud Complaint
In the same month that the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Regulation Crowdfunding, permitting startups and small businesses to raise capital by offering and selling securities through crowdfunding, the agency also filed its first complaint for crowdfunding fraud. The case highlights the emerging risk posed by online fundraising for the ...
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SEC Expects Year-End Disclosures on Revenue Rule Plans
Image: SEC Chief Accountant Jim Schnurr has advised audit committees to get involved in overseeing implementation of the new revenue standard, which takes effect in 2018. Schnurr said that should include disclosures about how the standard will affect financial statements. “We expect the level of these disclosures to increase and ...
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Blog
SEC Expects Year-End Disclosures on Revenue Rule Plans
Image: SEC Chief Accountant Jim Schnurr has advised audit committees to get involved in overseeing implementation of the new revenue standard, which takes effect in 2018. Schnurr said that should include disclosures about how the standard will affect financial statements. “We expect the level of these disclosures to increase and ...
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Blog
SEC: First-of-Their-Kind Actions Take the Spotlight in 2015
The Securities and Exchange Commission continued to build a strong record of first-of-their-kind cases that spanned the spectrum of the securities industry, according to the agency’s fiscal year 2015 enforcement report. The SEC filed 807 enforcement actions, obtaining approximately $4.2 billion in disgorgement and penalties—an increase from the 755 enforcement ...
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Dueling Views on SEC Enforcement
Image: A chronic dilemma for the SEC Enforcement Division is how best to focus its efforts given resource constraints. Enforcement Director Andrew Ceresney had to answer for how those decisions are made during a meeting of the Investment Advisory Committee last week. Despite calls to abolish the “broken windows” approach, ...
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Hosting a Related-Party Transaction About to Get Much Harder
Image: Companies preparing year-end financial disclosures, beware: Auditors will be poring over related-party transactions to make sure those parties don’t get too wild. The new Audit Standard 18 pushed auditors to be more skeptical about transactions, so expect them to push you (and your audit committee) to be more diligent ...
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Article
Hosting a Related-Party Transaction About to Get Much Harder
Image: Companies preparing year-end financial disclosures, beware: Auditors will be poring over related-party transactions to make sure those parties don’t get too wild. The new Audit Standard 18 pushed auditors to be more skeptical about transactions, so expect them to push you (and your audit committee) to be more diligent ...
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Blog
Pro Forma Reporting Tasked in Brisk M&A Market
A robust M&A market along with pro forma financial reporting rules have made it challenging for companies to comply with reporting requirements. New guidance from EY is meant to help companies know what pro forma financial information to present in SEC filings, which SEC forms require pro forma financial information, ...
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Advice Rolls In as SEC Disclosure Review Rolls On
Image: Stop us if you’ve heard this before: The SEC is attempting a comprehensive overhaul of its disclosure regime. This time, however, Chairman Mary Jo White may succeed where many of her predecessors failed. The SEC has numerous ideas to reform Regulation S-X, and no shortage of public comments on ...
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SEC Reform of In-House Trials Gets Lukewarm Reception
Image: Facing lawsuits and other complaints that its administrative proceedings are stacked against defendants, the SEC is mulling changes to give the accused more ability to defend themselves. The proposals have received lukewarm reception at best. “The proposed amendments do not come close to addressing all the issues that administrative ...
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Bristol-Myers Squibb Settles FCPA Case for $14 Million
Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb has reached a $14 million settlement with the SEC for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. According to the Commission, the company’s joint venture in China made cash payments and provided other benefits to healthcare providers at state-owned and state-controlled hospitals in exchange for prescription ...
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Blog
R.T. Jones Pays SEC $75K for Failing to Adopt Cyber-Security Policies
Investment advisory firm R.T. Jones last week reached a $75,000 settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to adopt written policies and procedures reasonably designed to protect customer records and information in violation of the "Safeguards Rule." Such failures ultimately resulted in a cyber-attack that compromised the personally ...
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Kinross Gold: Justice Department and SEC Probing West Africa Payments
Kinross Gold, a Canada-based gold mining company, said last week that it is under investigation by the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission concerning allegations of improper payments made to government officials and certain internal control deficiencies at its West Africa mining operations. More inside.
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SEC Charges Grant Thornton Affiliates for Auditor Independence
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged two Grant Thornton affiliates in India and Australia with violating auditor independence rules based on their activities in the tiny island nation of Mauritius off the east coast of Africa.
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SEC Accounting Enforcement: Bigger and Badder
Image: Perhaps some public companies haven’t yet taken to heart the (numerous) signals from regulators to button up their internal controls. A recent legal analysis of accounting-related enforcement actions from the SEC should do the trick. Sanctions are happening more frequently, and penalties are bigger. “The SEC is effectively ...
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Hitachi Settles FCPA Charges With SEC for $19 Million
Tokyo-based Hitachi reached a $19 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by inaccurately recording improper payments to South Africa’s ruling political party in connection with contracts to build two multi-billion dollar power plants. More inside.
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Appellate Court Ruling Leaves Compliance Officers Whistling in the Dark
Image: The recent appellate court ruling to expand Dodd-Frank whistleblower protections again, even to those who don’t report misconduct to the SEC, does no favors for companies trying to find the right policies for anti-retaliation. Ken Gage, head of the whistleblower defense practice at law firm Paul Hastings, says the ...
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A Focus on Transparency—of Auditing
Expect lots of talk about transparency into auditing this fall. The SEC and PCAOB both have proposals to expand the disclosure to investors of how audits work, and what roles audit firms and audit committees play. Substantive changes are almost certainly coming, columnist Scott Taub says, so it’s time to ...
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SEC Frets Over Split in Revenue Recognition Adoption Efforts
Image: Looking for consistency in application of the new revenue recognition standard, SEC Deputy Chief Accountant Wesley Bricker said companies need to do their homework and apply appropriate professional judgment. Bricker called on companies to move forward with implementation efforts “without delay” by understanding the key principles of the new ...
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Analogic Proposes $1.6 Million FCPA Settlement
Analogic, an airport security and medical-imaging technology provider, said in a quarterly filing this week that it has proposed a $1.6 million settlement to the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case.The potential sanctions concern certain questionable transactions involving Analogic’s Danish subsidiary BK Medical and ...