Insulated from Asbestos?

Twenty years ago, litigation costs related to asbestos in its joint compound product cost USG Corp. about $12 million a year. Ten years ago, that was still true. This year, however, is a different story. “We’d paid out $114 million this year and, had we not filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protect...

By Russ Banham • Sept. 1, 2001

Wrestling for Dollars: It’s Managers vs. Owners

A CFO whose company is hit with one of the growing number of shareholder class-action suits could well come down with a case of divided loyalties. On one hand, it’s a senior financial executive’s job to protect corporate assets. CFOs, for instance, need to make sure their companies’ lawyers mount...

By David Katz • Aug. 30, 2001

Darkness on the Edge of Town, Survey Reveals

Despite the horror show in California, almost half of US businesses are unprepared for energy shortages or prices spikes, according to a new survey. The study of 333 companies, sponsored by Chubb Financial Solutions Inc., showed that nearly a third of the respondents were surprised by the power p...

By Tim Reason • Aug. 29, 2001

The Sue Nation: Shareholders On Warpath

If you need further proof of just how ugly it’s gotten in the equities world, consider this: so far this year, corporations have been slapped with a record 263 shareholder lawsuits. Even in the US — where suing is practically the national pasttime — that’s a whole lot of lawsuits. In fact, accord...

By Roy Harris • Aug. 23, 2001

So Sue Me! Shareholder Litigation Hits An All-Time High

If you need further proof of just how ugly it’s gotten in the equities world, consider this: so far this year, corporations have been slapped with 263 shareholder lawsuits. Even in the US — where suing is practically the national pasttime — that’s a whole lot of lawsuits. In fact, according to Pr...

By Roy Harris • Aug. 22, 2001

Shareholders Take It to the Judge

The steep downturn in the economy seems to be triggering an equally sharp rise in the number of shareholder suits. And companies that have launched initial public offerings are now facing a particularly high risk of being sued, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.In fact, a total of 263 federal c...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Aug. 20, 2001

But Does This Qualify as Full Disclosure?

Ever so quietly, the guard has changed at the SEC. In a private ceremony conducted on Friday in Washington, Harvey Pitt was sworn as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. This, according to a source close to the SEC.SEC spokesman John Heine confirmed that Pitt was sworn in d...

By Alix Stuart • Aug. 7, 2001

Picking Apart the Pieces

Make room, earnings management. Despite recent reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is intensifying its crackdown on accounting fraud, agency officials are warning that their investigative spotlight may now also be trained on disclosure issues.In March, Robert Bayless, chief accoun...

By Tim Reason • Aug. 1, 2001

Capping Liability

Corporations struck out in two recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions involving wage awards, and both cases underscored financial liability issues. In United States v. Cleveland Indians Baseball Co., the team doled out back pay in 1994 as the result of a free-agency settlement. It paid taxes at the ...

By Joan Urdang • Aug. 1, 2001

A Company’s Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Too often, companies let their bright ideas soak up costs, moldering in the drawers of legal departments.Old patents go unused, incurring millions in maintenance fees. A company spends time and money researching a new technology, only to find that a small competitor has already patented it. Negle...

By David Katz • July 26, 2001

Moody’s Says Corporate Default Risk Dropped ‘Markedly’

Companies are less likely to default on their debt than they were a month ago, according to Moody’s Risk Management Services. But, don’t get too smug. The default risk still remains at 20-year highs due to huge indebtedness, sluggish earnings prospects, and volatile equity markets, says Moody’s.T...

By Stephen Taub • July 26, 2001

HR Case Study: Should You Tell Them They’ll Be Laid Off?

You’re a chief executive officer who knows that the acquisition your company’s about to make will probably result in layoffs.Your big problem is that you’ll need those workers for almost two years before you plan to let them go.Do you level with them about the situation?D. Keith Grossman, CEO and...

By David Katz • July 23, 2001

How to Prepare for Irate Shareholders

When the economy is strong and corporate profits robust, shareholders are generally supportive and relatively conciliatory. Shareholder meetings are also sparsely attended. When the going starts to get tough, however, they become a lot more confrontational, and shareholder meetings tend to become...

By Jennifer Caplan • July 18, 2001

SAFECO to Cut 1,200 Jobs

SAFECO, the Seattle-based property-casualty insurer, said today it will cut employment by 10 percent, or 1,200 jobs, by the end of 2003, with half of the cuts occurring this year.In a press release, the company said the layoffs combined with previously announced plans to consolidate the company’s...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 18, 2001

Solly Agrees to Settle Discrimination Lawsuit

Salomon Smith Barney agreed to shell out $635,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to Dow Jones News Service. Salomon settled the lawsuit “without admitting any unlawful conduct,” according to the wire service, citing a statement t...

By Stephen Taub • July 17, 2001

What’s Your Risk Metric?

Think of putting these risks into a single package: The possibilities that your company’s brand name will be tarnished; that an earthquake will level its plants; and that interest-rate swings will hurt its bond investments.Think, in fact, of measuring all your company’s perils with a common denom...

By David Katz • July 12, 2001

CSFB Fires Investment Banking CEO Amid IPO Probes

Credit Suisse Group fired Allen Wheat, the chief executive of the firm’s investment banking group, Thursday amid a government probe into how the firm allocated IPOs during the tech-stock boom, according to an Associated Press report.Wheat, who ran CSFB since 1997, was replaced by former Morgan St...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 12, 2001

Global Warming Hasn’t Boosted Storm-Related Damages, Study Argues

Contrary to some analysts’ claims, global warming hasn’t caused increases in catastrophic hurricane damages, contends a new study of insured hurricane damages from hurricanes affecting the continental United States in the 20th century.Key findings of the study Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, according...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 11, 2001

Web Site Settles Shareholder Lawsuit for at Least $4.25 Million

Drkoop.com Inc. announced on Monday that it reached a tentative agreement to settle the consolidated securities class action litigation and shareholder’s lawsuit filed against certain former officers and directors for $4.25 million in cash and $10 million in warrants. The $4.25 million will be fu...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 9, 2001

CFO Career Tip: Go to HR School

Here’s a tip for CFOs on how to boost your job prospects: Serve an apprenticeship in the human resources department. It could help make your company’s next merger a career-building success. With the fate of M&A deals often hanging on intangibles like the quality of a workforce or a customer b...

By David Katz • July 5, 2001

How to Develop a Positioning Statement

Almost every press release or other corporate communication has one: A “boiler-plate,” canned statement describing what a company does, differentiating the firm in terms of its markets or competitors, and establishing the company’s prospects going forward.And while the casual reader may tend to s...

By Ed Zwirn • July 2, 2001

How to Develop a Positioning Statement

Almost every press release or other corporate communication has one: A “boiler-plate,” canned statement describing what a company does, differentiating the firm in terms of its markets or competitors, and establishing the company’s prospects going forward.And while the casual reader may tend to s...

By Ed Zwirn • July 2, 2001

Disclosure Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission wants companies to present their stock option compensation plans in neat, easy-to-read tables, rather than relegate the information to a footnote. To that end, the commission released a proposed rule calling for the tabular disclosures to be included in prox...

By John P. Mello Jr. • July 1, 2001

Sexual Harrasment

Legal departments would have a much easier time if the Love Bug virus were confined to computers. But with longer hours and fewer formalities at the office, love has been blooming among employees. According to a survey by Vault.com, a career Web site, nearly 50 percent of respondents have been ro...

By Alix Stuart • July 1, 2001

SEC Scrutiny

You may be hearing from us,” warns chief accountant Robert A. Bayless, of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s division of corporation finance. Apparently, before the slowdown in initial public offerings this year, companies had a 1 in 15 chance of being reviewed. But with extra time on its h...

By Jake Wengroff • July 1, 2001