All SEC articles – Page 84
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Article
‘Broken Windows’ Strategy Raises Risk-Management Fears
The SEC has been pushing its “broken windows” enforcement strategy for more than a year now, chasing down minor infractions alongside larger securities violations. What have we learned? For starters, don’t expect isolated citations; larger sweeps get more bang for the SEC’s buck. As for compliance officers, their jobs will ...
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Blog
New Ideas on Disclosure Reform
Disclosure reform is one of the more intractable problems of corporate reporting. The SEC says it will work to move that issue forward this year, and inside, Compliance Week columnist Robert Herz offers his view on how to reinvigorate that project: Aim for a system of one corporate “evergreen” file ...
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Blog
Harvey Goldschmid Passes Away
Image: Columbia Law School Professor Harvey Goldschmid, a renowned corporate governance expert who served as a commissioner and the top attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission, died this week from complications from pneumonia. “He was a true public servant, whose commitment to this agency lived long past the days ...
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Blog
TEVA Expands Scope of FCPA Probe
An internal investigation that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries began three years ago into possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act continues to expand in scope, and further appears to have found evidence of wrongdoing, the company stated in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Details inside.
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Article
Why Boilerplate Battles Continue to Rage
Image: Again and again, with both guidance and comment letters, the SEC has urged companies to avoid using “boilerplate” language in disclosures—and companies never seem to embrace the message. “There is an extraordinary amount of boilerplate disclosure across topics and across industries,” says Jean Rogers, head of the Sustainability Accounting ...
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Blog
Study: Companies Taking Own Action on Clawbacks
Even ahead of any new clawback rules mandated by Congress or the SEC, companies are moving ahead themselves to add clawback provisions to executive compensation arrangements—and are swallowing some added accounting and financial reporting complexity to do so. PwC recently analyzed 100 large public companies and found 40 percent of ...
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Blog
SEC Ends Standoff With Big 4 China Affiliates
The SEC has settled its action against Big 4 affiliates in China that had stymied investigations into possible accounting fraud by refusing to hand over audit work papers. The SEC fined each of the Big 4 affiliates $500,000 while acknowledging that the firms eventually began providing documents.
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Blog
Broadwind Energy to Pay $1 Million for Accounting Violations
Broadwind Energy, an alternative energy company, has agreed to pay a $1 million penalty to the SEC for accounting and disclosure violations. According to the SEC, Broadwind Energy prevented investors from knowing that reduced business from two significant customers caused substantial declines in the company’s financial prospects.
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Blog
SEC Approves PCAOB Budget, Wants Improvements
Image: The SEC has approved a 2015 budget of $250.9 million for the PCAOB, 3 percent less than its 2014 budget but 8 percent more than the board actually spent in 2014. PCAOB Chairman James Doty said that the decrease “reflects an appropriate reassessment of assumptions relating to personnel and ...
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Article
SEC, FINRA Dropping Hints on Risk
Compliance officers looking to read some tea leaves about what worries the Securities and Exchange Commission these days might want to skim the 2015 exam priorities that the SEC and FINRA have posted. That guidance applies foremost to financial firms, but “it’s only a matter of time before they require ...
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Blog
FASB May Offer Deferral, Early Adoption on Revenue Rule
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is considering both a deferral of its sweeping new revenue recognition rule and early adoption for companies ready to proceed, a FASB spokesman said Monday. FASB will decide later this spring on those ideas, after hearing more input from companies preparing for the current 2017 ...
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Blog
Cobalt: SEC Drops Foreign Bribery Probe
Cobalt International Energy announced yesterday that it has received a termination letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission, stating that the agency does not intend to recommend any enforcement action after looking into potential violations of federal securities laws related to Cobalt's operations in Angola. “This formally concludes the SEC’s ...
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Blog
Ford Feels Venezuela Pinch With $800 Million Charge
Ford Motor Co. is taking a one-time $800 million charge to earnings in its 2014 fourth quarter because of continued currency problems with Venezuelan operations. In a filing with the SEC, the company said the currency woes have constrained parts availability, which makes normal production difficult to maintain. Details inside.
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Blog
Oppenheimer Dinged $20 Mill for Penny Stock Violations
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the SEC today slapped securities broker Oppenheimer with a $20 million penalty for not adhering to rules on the sale of penny stocks. Of that amount, $10 million will go to the SEC to resolve related securities and Bank Secrecy Act violations. Details inside.
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Article
COSO Tacks Toward Cyber-Security
As cyber-security works its way onto the corporate board agenda, COSO is suggesting ways that its frameworks for internal control and risk management can be a starting point for companies to anticipate fast-emerging risks. “Just as the board is responsible for enterprise risk management, this is very similar,” says Mike ...
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Article
How M&A Due Diligence Goes Wrong
According to data compiled by Bloomberg, $390 billion in merger deals fell apart last year. M&A plans can collapse for many reasons, from regulatory disapproval to clashing CEO egos. Most painful, however, is a deal is consummated quickly that later proves to be a mistake—thanks to poor due diligence. Inside, ...
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Blog
SEC Eyeing BNY Mellon on Anti-Bribery
BNY Mellon disclosed in a Form 8-K filing with the SEC last week that certain of its current and former employees have received Wells notices for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. BNY Mellon said it received a similar Wells notice in the fourth quarter of 2014. Details ...
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Blog
SEC Warns on Foreign Business vs. Joint Venture
Be careful what you call a “foreign business.” The Securities and Exchange Commission says it is seeing too many instances of companies trying to call their joint ventures “foreign businesses” for financial reporting purposes. Perhaps that’s because the reporting requirements might be easier to meet. See inside.
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Article
Why Wait for SEC? The DIY Disclosure Review
While companies await results of the SEC’s ongoing review of its disclosure regime (hint: do not hold breath), they can just as well try the same at home. Creating a disclosure committee, cutting redundancy in 10-K risk factors and MD&A sections, spotlighting material information, and using charts and graphs are ...
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Blog
S&P to Pay $77 Million for Ratings Misconduct
Standards & Poor’s Ratings Services has agreed to pay $58 million to the SEC, $12 million to the New York Attorney General’s Office, and $7 million to the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office to settle a series of federal securities law violations involving fraudulent misconduct in its ratings of certain commercial ...