All Compliance Week articles in Web Issue – Page 726
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Blog
New UK Anti-Corruption Plan Omits Hideaway Homes
Britain’s ambitious U.K. Anti-Corruption Plan addresses everything from emboldened enforcement agencies to sharper criminal liability, but critics have jumped on one weakness: the plan’s mandate for a public register of beneficial ownership omits the housing market. Given the multitude of luxury homes in London owned by overseas trusts, that’s problematic, ...
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Blog
EU Raises ‘Loophole Risk’ With New AML Regime
Transparency advocates are giving tempered praise to a new anti-money laundering regime proposed this month by representatives of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The new rules would mandate that member states create centralised registers of beneficial ownership behind companies, but outsiders such as journalists or ...
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Article
Companies Face New Twists in Shareholder Proposals
What the SEC giveth, the courts may taketh away—a point made clear lately by two conflicting messages for companies seeking to keep shareholder proposals off the proxy statement. At the SEC, a victory for Whole Foods suggests the agency might be more business-friendly in granting no-action letters this coming proxy ...
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Blog
Brandywine Appoints Chief Accounting Officer
Brandywine, an asset management firm, has appointed Daniel Palazzo as chief accounting officer, effective Jan. 15, 2015. Palazzo will assume this role from Thomas Wirth, who will continue in his current role as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Details inside.
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Blog
SEC Sues F-Squared for Touting Hypothetical and Inflated Performance
Yesterday, the SEC announced an interesting enforcement action against investment management firm F-Squared Investments and its former CEO, Howard Present. According to the SEC, F-Squared misled investors between September 2008 and September 2013 by touting a lengthy record of stellar performance that was, in fact, not only hypothetical but substantially ...
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Article
SEC Nudges Companies on Cash Flows
The SEC is urging companies to tighten accounting procedures around the statement of cash flows, amid a steady rise in restatements associated with it. Speaking at the national AICPA conference earlier this month, SEC staffer Kirk Crews said the majority of errors were “due to relatively less complex applications” of ...
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Article
Insider-Trading Risks Get More Complicated
Image: The appellate court decision to overturn insider-trading convictions of two Wall Streeters brings clarity to some aspects of the crime. It does not, however, reduce insider-trading risks. Yes, the ruling narrows the scope of such offenses, but “a compliance officer would have to be out of his mind to ...
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Blog
SEC's EDGAR Filings Go on Christmas Hiatus
The day after Christmas has been declared a non-working day for the federal government and the SEC’s electronic filing system, EDGAR, will not be operational on that day. The system resumes operations on Monday, Dec. 29 and filings due oth the 26th can be delayed until that time.
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Blog
Humana Names Chief Accounting Officer
Humana, a managed healthcare company, has appointed Cynthia Zipperle as chief accounting officer and controller, effective immediately. Zipperle has been a part of Humana’s finance team since joining the company in 1998, with increasing responsibility during her tenure. Details inside.
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Blog
Ocwen Financial to Pay $150 Million Over Wrongful Foreclosures
Ocwen Financial this week agreed to pay a total of $150 million in “hard-dollar” assistance to current and former New York borrowers to resolve numerous and significant abuses in violation of a previous settlement agreement with the New York Department of Financial Services. As part of the settlement, founder William ...
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Blog
NLRB Issues Labor Violation Complaints Against McDonald's
The National Labor Relations Board Office last week issued 13 complaints involving 78 charges against fast-food giant McDonald’s USA and McDonald’s franchisees, as joint employers. The complaints could have far-reaching effects for McDonald’s, and others that rely on a franchise model, in that it opens the door to unionization and ...
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Blog
Podcast: Navigating the Pitfalls of Geolocation Data
Uber, Snapchat, and Golden Technologies are the latest companies to come under fire for how they use the geolocation data they collect from their customers. In this week’s podcast, we talk to Fernando Bohorquez, a partner at the law firm BakerHostetler who specializes in privacy and data security issues, about ...
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Blog
The Ingredients for Good Non-Financial Reporting
Good disclosure begins with good standards. That has been challenging enough for financial reporting, and now investors want even more disclosure about important non-financial information. This week, Compliance Week columnist Robert Herz talks about the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (disclosure: he sits on SASB’s board), its effort to develop disclosure ...
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Podcast
Podcast: Navigating the Pitfalls of Geolocation Data
Uber, Snapchat, and Golden Technologies are the latest companies to come under fire for how they use the geolocation data they colect from their customers. In this week’s podcast, we talk to Fernando Bohorquez, a partner at the law firm BakerHostetler who specializes in privacy and data security issues, about ...
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Blog
JP Morgan Outlines Compliance Overhaul
JP Morgan, the Wall Street bank that has racked up more than $23 billion in regulatory fines since the financial crisis, has released a 100-page report detailing its efforts to improve compliance, culture, and internal controls. The report, “How We Do Business,” was in response to pressure from shareholder activists ...
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Blog
Sustainability Standards for Services Industries Released
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board issued its latest set of standards, this time for companies in the services sector to help them improve disclosure of environmental, social, and governance risks. The standards represent the sixth set in a planned industry-focused series of sustainability standards. More details inside.
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Blog
Unum Group Appoints New General Counsel
Unum Group has appointed Lisa Iglesias as general counsel. She will assume this role from Liston Bishop, who has announced his intention to retire from the company at the end of March 2015. Details inside.
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Blog
Sony, Lesson 1: Communication Breakdown
Image: The lessons from Sony’s surrender to North Korean hackers last week are too many to count right now, so let’s start with an immediate one: understand the risks your company creates with its communication habits, and enforce smarter business practices to change them. Easy enough to say, Compliance Week ...
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Blog
Alstom to Pay Record $772 Million for FCPA Violations
Image: French power and transportation giant Alstom SA agreed Monday to pay $772 million to settle criminal violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, setting a record for largest FCPA settlement ever. Deputy Attorney General James Cole called Alstom’s misconduct "astounding in its breadth, its brazenness and its worldwide consequences," ...
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Blog
Actavis Names Global Chief Compliance Officer
Pharmaceutical company Actavis has appointed Jonathon Kellerman as global chief compliance officer. Kellerman is a member of the Actavis Executive Leadership Team and will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Brent Saunders. Details inside.