All Compliance Week articles in Web Issue – Page 587
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Blog
FASB appoints transition group for pending credit loss standard
Image: FASB has seated a Transition Resource Group to help implement the pending standard on credit losses that will include 16 bigwigs from accounting firms PwC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte, Grant Thornton, and Crowe Horwath, as well as banking and insurance entities. The group, which will be chaired by FASB member ...
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Blog
Novartis to pay $25 million in FCPA case
Switzerland pharmaceutical giant Novartis yesterday reached a $25 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for violating the books and records and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act concerning its operations in China.
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Blog
SEC readies concept release on Regulation S-K review
The SEC will meet next week to take the next step in an ongoing review of its disclosure regime. On March 30, the Commission, in an open meeting, will consider whether to issue a concept release seeking comment on modernizing business and financial disclosure requirements in Regulation S-K. Also at ...
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Blog
Is FIFA entitled to restitution as a victim?
Image: It appears the Fédération Internationale de Football Association is trying to shed its corrupt image in favor of playing the victim. The international governing body of football has asked the Justice Department for its share of monies it obtains through forfeiture and penalties from individuals prosecuted around the FIFA ...
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Blog
Complying with Brexit
As the United Kingdom gets ever closer to withdrawing from the European Union, no small amount of economic turmoil and compliance headaches are sure to follow. For compliance officers at companies doing business in Europe and the United Kingdom, the possibility of a Brexit provides the sort of job security ...
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Blog
Study links audit staffing to audit quality
Recent academic research from professors at the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University finds where audit engagement workload is high, companies have significantly higher abnormal discretionary accruals, are more likely to restate earnings, and are less likely to get a going concern opinion even when signs of distress are ...
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Blog
EPA, CFTC agree to share data
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding that allows the agencies to share Renewable Fuel Standard data and analysis, including proprietary business information. Sharing this information, the agreement says, will allow the CFTC to assist the EPA with investigations into ...
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Blog
Corp Fin issues new guidance on shareholder proposals
The SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance has issued a new Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation addressing rules requiring that the proxy “identify clearly and impartially each separate matter intended to be acted upon.” The question it answers: How specifically must a registrant describe a Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposal on its proxy ...
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Article
Take the Conflict of Interest Challenge
Conflicts of interest have become a big risk area for companies of all sizes, in all industries and any country. Just try spending an hour on the Web, and you’ll find several examples of COI causing financial losses for companies or their customers, questionable outcomes in scientific and medical research, ...
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Article
Scalia’s absence a blow to companies?
Image: Many companies are left wondering what the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (left) means for business cases moving forward and for the handful of others that remain suspended in a state of legal limbo. “The mere uncertainty created by Justice Scalia’s absence may cause businesses to ...
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Article
Compliance risks in M&A transactions
Image: 2015 was a record-breaking year for global mergers and acquisitions, but inherent in those deals are numerous compliance risks, such as potential Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations and deal-breaking cultural clashes. Involving compliance personnel at the earliest stages of an M&A transaction can significantly reduce unforeseen liabilities. “You don’t ...
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ArticleInternal audit joins the fight against cyber-threats
As organizations face ever-increasing cyber-security threats, experts are prodding internal auditors to get more involved in at least identifying the risks, even if they aren’t information technology experts. Basic compliance practices can significantly reduce a company’s cyber-exposure, but it needs somebody to drive the effort.
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Blog
Under investor scrutiny, corporate governance evolved into a crucial value generator
Title: Recent statements from big, maRecent statements from big, mainstream investment firms underscore just how far corporate governance has evolved from having once been a compliance exercise about proxies to a fundamental contributor to risk management and value creation. And as more funds integrate environmental, social, and governance factors into ...
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Blog
Avoiding Vanguard’s cyber-security stumble
Image: A recent incident at Vanguard in which the company unintentionally sent 71 e-mails pertaining to different customer transactions to a random Vanguard customer triggered a flawed response from the company that demonstrates how SEC-registered entities can underestimate just how difficult it is to manage customer data-related predicaments. CW’s John ...
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Article
Buffett vs. Zuckerberg: Does CEO age matter to investors?
Plenty of research supports the notion of mandatory retirement age for board members, but what about MRPs for CEOs? Does imposing an age limit on top executives really drive better long-term organizational performance? Shareholders, it turns out, seem to prefer experience to youth.
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Article
SEC nominees in the firing line at Senate hearing
During a nomination hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on March 15, President Obama’s picks to fill vacancies on the Securities and Exchange Commission—Republican Hester Peirce and Democrat Lisa Fairfax—endured more than two hours of questioning that ranged from cordial to confrontational. Enforcing individual liability, ensuring cost-effective rulemaking, and the ...
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Article
GE unveils new approach to investor reporting
GE might seem an unlikely company to take a lead in the push to simplify financial disclosures. A multinational conglomerate with a long list of business lines, its inherent complexity might seem to make it ill-suited for such a task. And yet, GE is aggressively taking the lead, notably with ...
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Blog
Former Goldman compliance employee settles SEC insider trading case
A former Goldman Sachs compliance employee settled his case with the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve insider trading charges filed against him last year. Judge Valerie Caproni of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last week entered a final judgment against defendant Yue Han, ...
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Blog
Living in glass houses can be a good thing
A recent visit by CW Editor Bill Coffin to a building with no solid walls, and a chance encounter with one of the world’s wealthiest people offered a compelling case for the pursuit of transparency in both the literal and figurative sense.