Fastow Sentencing Date Delayed

Andrew Fastow won’t be moving into his new one-room digs anytime soon.The former Enron chief financial officer, who has agreed to spend 10 years in prison as part of his plea deal, had his scheduled sentencing delayed.He was initially expected to be officially sentenced in April, but U.S. Distric...

By Stephen Taub • March 22, 2004

CMS Settles SEC Round-Trip Charges

CMS Energy Corp. announced a settlement Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding $5.2 billion in round-trip energy transactions by a subsidiary, reported the Houston Business Journal.Former controller Terry Wooley agreed to a cease-and-desist order not to engage in further e...

By Stephen Taub • March 19, 2004

GE to Seek Shareholder OK on Severance

Companies are becoming increasingly responsive to shareholders in this age of Sarbanes-Oxley and high-profile executive trials. A growing number of companies are acting on shareholder wishes that are not binding — and sometimes that have not garnered majority support.The most recent example: Gene...

By Stephen Taub • March 19, 2004

‘Tis the Season to Delay SEC Filings

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. announced that it won’t be able to file its annual report by the March 30 deadline, but that it will file “as soon as practicable” following the resolution of an investigation into its overseas accounting problems.HealthSouth Corp., which is also being investiga...

By Stephen Taub • March 18, 2004

DPL Controller Alleges Self-Dealing

The controller of DPL Inc. has charged the Ohio utility’s top executives with self-dealing, according to the Dayton Daily News.DPL controller Daniel Thobe’s March 10 internal memo — which the News says it received anonymously — was addressed to W. August Hillenbrand, chairman of the company’s fin...

By Stephen Taub • March 18, 2004

Martha Stewart Resigns from MSO Board

As expected, Martha Stewart has resigned as a director and chief creative officer of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSO). She will assume the newly created position of founding editorial director and will report to the company’s CEO, Sharon Patrick.According to the company, Stewart will co...

By Stephen Taub • March 16, 2004

Tough New Accounting Rules for Europe

The European Commission will announce new rules tomorrow to shore up corporate governance and compliance, according to Reuters.Mindful of tougher U.S. rules for public companies and auditors, and fresh off a rash of its own accounting scandals, the EC is expected to propose an independent supervi...

By Stephen Taub • March 15, 2004

SEC Amendments Respond to Sarbanes 409

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved long-awaited new requirements for 8-K filings, in response to Section 409 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.The amendments add 10 disclosure items that would trigger an 8-K filing, including two items now required in quarterly and annual reports.In addi...

By Stephen Taub • March 15, 2004

Somewhere under the Rainbow

Think you’re relieved that the deadline for compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has been moved back several months? IT vendors are no doubt cheering as well.In December, IT consulting firm Meta Group Inc. said that its poll of IT vendors and business-service providers fo...

By CFO Editorial Staff • March 15, 2004

A World of Trouble

Beware a false sense of security: Even though the SEC has pushed back the deadline for compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, a little-known and perhaps largely outdated auditing standard for outsourcers could hamstring companies that are rushing to send their business pro...

By Craig Schneider • March 15, 2004

Groups Hatch Issuer-Analyst Ethics Code

Complaints that corporate issuers pressure securities analysts to sway their assessments have led two groups on different sides of the issue to hatch an ethics code to govern issuer-analyst relations.The organizations — the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) and the Nationa...

By Marie Leone • March 12, 2004

Calpers Nixes Five HP Directors

One week after 43 percent of shareholders withheld their votes for Walt Disney chairman Michael Eisner, the California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers) withheld votes for five Hewlett-Packard directors.The pension fund cited the computer and printer maker’s noncompliance with Calpers’...

By Stephen Taub • March 12, 2004

Tyco D&O Insurer Must Pay Kozlowski’s Costs

A New York Supreme Court judge recently supplied former Tyco International chairman Dennis Kozlowski’s with a bit of good news — and saddled Federal Insurance Company with the potential for more than six months’ worth of legal fees.Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman last Friday ordered the insu...

By Stephen Taub • March 11, 2004

SEC Cracks Down on Stonewalling

The Securities and Exchange Commission has apparently adopted a zero-tolerance policy for companies that don’t cooperate with its investigations.Actions against two companies this week appeared to reveal the trend. As part of a settled enforcement action announced yesterday, for example, the comm...

By Stephen Taub • March 11, 2004

The O-Ring in Your Supply Chain

Could a labor dispute on U.S. shores be considered a “political risk” — and a threat to supply chains in the United States? Surely political risk is the province of Asia, or the Middle East, or Latin America, the consequence of civil unrest that threatens the inflow of raw materials to stateside ...

By David Katz • March 11, 2004

SEC Seeks to Enforce Amerco Orders

The Securities and Exchange Commission has applied to a U.S. District Court for an order to enforce investigative subpoenas served on Amerco. The company hasn’t cooperated with the regulatory agency’s investigation into possible violations of federal securities laws, the SEC contends.The SEC’s ap...

By Stephen Taub • March 10, 2004

GM Finance Chief Rails at Sarbox

General Motors CFO John Devine said that regulation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act had gone too far, frightening company management and threatening U.S. competitiveness overall.Executives are focusing on compliance to the detriment of their corporations’ core business operations, he said in an inte...

By Stephen Taub • March 10, 2004

SEC Boosting Big-Company Caseload

The Securities and Exchange Commission has many of the largest companies in its crosshairs.Susan Markel, SEC Enforcement Division chief accountant, said over the weekend that the regulatory agency is bringing more financial fraud cases against big-name, Fortune 500 companies, according to Reuters...

By Stephen Taub • March 9, 2004

Enron Testimony Could Involve Ken Lay

Testimony delivered last week by ex-Enron treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. might contain information that could help prosecutors decide whether to criminally charge former chairman Ken Lay, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.Glisan, who pleaded guilty to one conspiracy charge in September 200...

By Stephen Taub • March 8, 2004

Tyco Judge Throws Out Most Serious Charge

The two former top executives of Tyco International currently on trial for looting about $600 million from the conglomerate received a rare bit of good news from a judge on Friday.Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus threw out an enterprise- corruption charge against former chief executive ...

By Stephen Taub • March 8, 2004

Martha Stewart Convicted on All Counts

On Friday, February 27, U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum threw out the most serious charge against Martha Stewart. According to Judge Cedarbaum, prosecutors had failed to present sufficient evidence to allow the jury to decide the matter.Two days ago, on the third day of deliberations...

By Dave Cook • March 5, 2004

Dell Follows Disney, Splits Top Jobs

One day after Walt Disney Co. split the roles of chairman and chief executive officer, computer giant Dell Corp. did the same.The No. 1 seller of personal computers announced that founder Michael Dell will transfer the CEO title to Kevin Rollins, effective with the company’s annual meeting on Jul...

By Stephen Taub • March 5, 2004

Bar Hopping

Already considered one of the most severe civil penalties for securities violations, officer and director (O/D) bars have been embraced by the Securities and Exchange Commission with a new zeal. Too bad they aren’t being enforced with equal enthusiasm.The numbers reflect very good intentions. Las...

By Kris Frieswick • March 5, 2004

Disney Vote Leads to Board Shakeup

Yesterday’s annual meeting of Disney Corp. shareholders in Philadelphia delivered what is widely being seen as a vote of “no confidence” for chief executive — and now former chairman — Michael Eisner.Fully 43 percent of shareholders withheld their votes from Eisner, reported Reuters — far more th...

By Dave Cook • March 4, 2004

Former HealthSouth Execs Plead Guilty

Two former executives of HealthSouth Corp. have pleaded guilty to charges related to contracts with a hospital in Saudi Arabia, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.Former vice president Vincent Nico agreed to plead guilty to a wire fraud charge contained in a criminal information that was...

By Stephen Taub • March 4, 2004