All SEC articles – Page 86
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Blog
Budget Bill Targets Dodd-Frank’s Derivatives Restrictions
Dec. 10—Seeking to avoid another government shutdown, the House has approved the fiscal year 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill, legislation that will provide discretionary funding for the vast majority of the federal government for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Notable inclusions in the bill—now before the Senate—are a $150 ...
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Blog
FASB Studies Three Revenue Issues for Possible New Guidance
Image: Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Russ Golden has authorized FASB staff to conduct research on (1) how to apply the new revenue recognition standard to licensing agreements; (2) when revenue should be recognized on a gross versus net basis; and (3) how to determine performance obligations. The research should ...
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Article
Frameworks and Leadership on Cyber-Risks
As cyber-security attacks become everyday news, companies are racing to identify and mitigate their risks. Some of that is “pure” IT security; much of it is about applying a control framework smartly to new technologies—and empowering the right person to oversee these risks. “Companies ... for the most part are ...
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Blog
SEC, PCAOB Deliver Fresh Warnings on Auditor Independence
Dec. 9—Public companies have been handed a not-so-subtle reminder to pay closer attention to auditor independence. At the annual AICPA conference this week, the SEC announced it had sanctioned eight audit firms with fines totaling $140,000 for violating auditor independence rules because they prepared financial statements of brokerage firms whose ...
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BlogSEC Declining to Comment (in Letters)
The number of SEC comment letters regarding 10-Ks and 10-Qs issued during the first six months of 2014 decreased about 25 percent compared to the same period in 2013, according to Audit Analytics. In our latest guest post from the firm, Audit Analytics look at the most comment types of ...
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Blog
PCAOB Finds No Big Improvement in 2014 Inspections
Image: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will soon offer a peek at 2014 inspection findings, but you won’t see much improvement, said Chairman James Doty. The board has delivered consistently tough marks to the major audit firms in recent years, calling for better audit work on such items as ...
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Blog
SEC Explores Possible Option to Report Under IFRS
Image: The Securities and Exchange Commission is exploring whether to provide U.S. companies with the option to present their financial statements under International Financial Reporting Standards, SEC Chief Accountant James Schnurr said last week. Schnurr is studying the staff’s historical work on a possible adoption of IFRS, and reaching out ...
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Blog
SEC Sides With Whole Foods in Proxy Access Battle
Image: The SEC has sided with Whole Foods in a closely watched effort to submit its own proxy access proposal at the annual meeting. The move supersedes a proposal sought by activist shareholder Jim McRitchie, who wanted to give proxy access to any group of shareholders that collectively owns at ...
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Blog
SEC Disclosure Simplification Bill Approved in House
Image: A bill intended to help public companies streamline their disclosures has been unanimously approved by the House of Representatives. The Disclosure Modernization and Simplification Act, sponsored by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), allows issuers to submit a summary page on annual Form 10-K filings. It also gives the SEC a ...
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ArticleAre Auditors Making Unnecessary Demands on Internal Control Documentation?
As many companies finish work on a new framework for internal controls, a small number of them are starting to question their external auditors’ documentation requirements and are considering pushing back. Lillian Barlett, vice president of risk management and internal audit at SunOpta, for example, says the documentation requests are ...
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Article
SEC Whistleblower Program’s Latest Threat: Its Success
Corporate compliance officers may have a new reason to be uncomfortable with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program: how well it appears to be working. Tips are flooding into the SEC, including 3,620 in fiscal year 2014 alone. “The SEC has institutionally embraced the whistleblower statute,” says Brian Kenney, ...
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Blog
HSBC Private Bank Pays $12.5 Million for Providing Unregistered Services to U.S. Clients
HSBC’s Swiss-based private banking arm agreed today to pay $12.5 million to Securities and Exchange Commission for violating federal securities laws by failing to register with the SEC before providing cross-border brokerage and investment advisory services to U.S. clients. “HSBC Private Bank’s efforts to prevent registration violations ultimately failed, because ...
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Blog
Golden Answers Early Political Pressure on Revenue Recognition
To answer early political pressure over the new accounting standard on revenue recognition, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is pledging its readiness to work through implementation issues as they are identified and brought to the board for action.
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Blog
FASB, SEC Give New Options on Pushdown Accounting
FASB has issued a new Accounting Standards Update to provide an option for the application of “pushdown accounting,” which occurs when an acquired business adopts the new parent company’s basis of accounting to prepare its financial statements. The update gives acquired companies some choices on the timing and extent of ...
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Blog
SEC Approves Rule Requiring Technology Safeguards
Image: Nov. 19—Despite concerns that it may be too limited in its current form, the SEC unanimously approved Regulation SCI, new rules intended to strengthen the technology infrastructure of securities markets, improve their resilience, and enhance the Commission’s ability to oversee them. The rule includes attestation requirements for chief executive ...
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Blog
2014 Marked Record Year for SEC Whistleblower Program
Fiscal year 2014 marked a historic year for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s whistleblower program both in the number of tips it received and the number and dollar amount of whistleblower rewards the agency doled out, according to the SEC’s annual report to Congress. The SEC received 3,620 whistleblower tips ...
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Blog
Court Gives SEC Another Chance to Defend Conflict Minerals Rule
The court that struck down parts of the SEC’s conflict minerals disclosure rule has agreed to give the agency another chance to make its case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said it will permit the SEC to file a supplemental brief, setting the stage for ...
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Blog
GAO Faults SEC for Internal Control Deficiencies
The message from the Government Accountability Office to the Securities and Exchange Commission: practice what you preach. A new, 176-page report from the government watchdog faults the agency for “a significant deficiency" in internal controls for its Investor Protection Fund.
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Blog
Hertz Restatement Expands, May Involve Tone at the Top; SEC Investigating
Hertz’s single-year restatement announcement in June has mushroomed into a multi-year restatement and an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company reported on Friday in a Form 8-K filing. The filing offered the first hints that the problems may stem from poor tone at the top. More ...
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Blog
Petrobras Restates Financials Amid Bribery Probe
A corruption probe unfolding against Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras took an interesting turn today, when Brazilian federal police carried out a series of raids that resulted in the arrests of eighteen individuals believed to be involved in a widespread money-laundering scheme. In light of the accusations and investigations, Petrobas ...