Regulation & Compliance: Page 40
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xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Stocks Down, Voices Raised
With gloomy prospects facing nearly every public company, shareholders are sure to be feistier than ever this proxy season. Once again, the center-stage issue will be executive compensation. “Shareholders want a cleanup in the compensation aisle,” quips Patrick McGurn, special counsel to proxy ad...
By Kate Plourd • April 1, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
A Tale of Two Markets
Even as they seek bailout dollars from Washington, financial-services firms shouldn’t expect any relief from their insurers. Premiums for directors’-and-officers’ (D&O) liability insurance are soaring, financial limits are contracting, and policy terms and conditions are tightening. The situa...
By Russ Banham • April 1, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
The Gauge of Innocence
In tough times, companies face plenty of honest challenges, and most managers and staffers rise to the occasion. But inevitably, as pressures multiply, some will cave in and demonstrate poor judgment, or worse. They may blur the lines on revenue recognition, tinker with stock options, abuse reser...
By S.L. Mintz • April 1, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Commercial Real Estate’s Ballooning Threat
The next credit crunch will come in the commercial real estate business, where many heavily leveraged companies are experiencing a loss of tenants and lower rents due to the lousy economy. One potential trigger point could be looming balloon mortgage payments that are coming due, with unlucky tim...
By Stephen Taub • March 30, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Wave Bye-bye to Buybacks
Companies continued to scale down repurchases of their own shares – with the fourth-quarter drop-off in buybacks occurring at a particularly rapid rate.S&P 500 companies shelled out $48.1 billion to repurchase stock during the latest quarter, down 66 percent from $141.7 billion during in the ...
By Stephen Taub • March 26, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Insight Enterprises Hit with Investor Suits
Computer products reseller Insight Enterprises Inc., which recently disclosed that it was the target of its second Securities and Exchange Commission probe in two years, is being sued by shareholders.At least four law firms have announced the filing of class-action lawsuits in federal court for t...
By Stephen Taub • March 26, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
EU wants tighter control of rating agencies
Members of the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee earlier this week voted in favour of a proposal that would require credit rating agencies to register and be subject to scrutiny by regulators to see they were complying with governance rules.The proposal from Charlie Mc...
By European Voice Staff • March 26, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Stanford Financial CFO Will Aid the Feds
Stanford Financial Group CFO James M. Davis — the number-two executive at the financial firm at the center of allegations that it is an $8-billion investment fraud — is reportedly cooperating with federal investigators.Previously, Davis had cited his Fifth-Amendment rights against self-incriminat...
By Stephen Taub and Roy Harris • March 24, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Geithner, Bernanke Defend AIG Bailout
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday defended their handling of the AIG bailout while calling for Congress to grant new powers to take over failing firms.Both men, speaking before the House Financial Services Committee, defended the infusion of ...
By Roll Call Staff • March 24, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Rumbling On
Barack Obama has endured a difficult few days. Anger rumbles on after the revelation that American International Group (AIG) paid millions in bonuses to employees at the unit that broke the giant insurer, which required a $173 billion bail-out. The Senate is poised this week to debate a “compensa...
By Economist Staff • March 23, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
A Test of Will
A few days ago Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, was asked to identify the biggest obstacle to economic recovery. That “we don’t have the political will,” he replied.Mr. Bernanke showed his own will on Wednesday March 18th, when the Fed’s policy panel said it would purchase $300 bill...
By Economist Staff • March 19, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Proposed Labor-Union Law Roils CFOs
The proposed Employee Free Choice Act, also known as the Card Check bill, has set off the first of what could be a series of labor-versus-business brawls in the now Democrat-controlled Washington.While business-backed and union-supported lobbying groups attempt to sway lawmakers on the vices or v...
By Kate Plourd • March 19, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
From the Oracle’s Mouth: Its First Div
Against the grain of company after company slashing dividends, Oracle announced its first payout ever.The software giant will pay a 5-cent quarterly, for an annual rate of 20 cents, declaring that the dividend policy now will add a new dimension to the way it rewards investors – limited in the pa...
By Stephen Taub • March 18, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
First, Madoff. Now? His Accountant.
Federal prosecutors turned from Bernard Madoff — now in jail awaiting sentencing — and arrested his accountant on charges of aiding and abetting Madoff’s alleged $50 billion pyramid investment scheme.David G. Friehling, who surrendered this morning, was charged with six counts of securities fraud...
By Stephen Taub • March 18, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Frank Calls for Government Takeover of AIG
House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) called for the government to formally take control of American International Group and sue employees who received bonuses.Frank said it’s “time for us to take over the company.”Although taxpayers have an 80 percent stake in the firm, Frank ...
By Roll Call Staff • March 17, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Sound and Fury over AIG
The revelation that $165 million in bonuses have been paid by AIG, a giant insurance company bailed out with roughly $170 billion of taxpayers’ money after it came close to collapse last year, has turned into a political drama for Barack Obama. The latest payments are in addition to $55 million p...
By Economist Staff • March 17, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Despite Pressures, Fewer Firms File Late
At least 121 large companies have missed the deadline for filing their 2008 annual reports, a decline from 184 missed deadlines at the same period of the 2007 filing year, and 250 for the 2006 year, says the corporate-governance research firm Glass Lewis & Co..Today — March 17 — is the deadli...
By Stephen Taub • March 17, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
PCAOB Seeks 3.7 Percent Support Fee Hike
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is seeking permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise the 2009 PCAOB accounting support fee by 3.7 percent, from $151.8 million to $157.4 million.The move would increase the PCAOB’s previously established 2009 accounting support f...
By Stephen Taub • March 17, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
AIG Firestorm Burns Up Hill
Outrage over bailed-out insurer American International Group paying millions of dollars in bonuses reached a full bipartisan boil on Capitol Hill on Monday, with Members calling for all manner of reprisals — from firing the company’s executives and yanking government aid from the firm to pushing ...
By Roll Call Staff • March 17, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
SEC Nails Down Backdating, Fraud Cases
Stock-option backdating is back in the news, with Quest Software, a midcap provider of point-of-sale systems, settling civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC also settled a fraud case against MedQuist Inc., a small-cap medical-transcription company.The SEC charged that Q...
By Stephen Taub • March 13, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
GM: Keep Your $2 Billion, Uncle Sam
General Motors indicated that its financial situation is not as dire as earlier thought, with executive vice president and CFO Ray G. Young saying that the struggling auto maker “at this time” would not need the $2 billion in government money that GM previously requested for March.The company cit...
By Stephen Taub • March 12, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Pursued by Obamabears
Barack Obama has modelled his early days on those of Franklin Roosevelt, the last president to take office during a serious economic crisis. But by one benchmark he is failing. At market close on March 11th, despite a rally this week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 16 percent below its leve...
By Economist Staff • March 12, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Sympathy for Fair Value Critics
Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro told the House Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government that she supports changes to the mark-to-market rule, but opposes scrapping it altogether.In a wide-ranging talk to on Capitol Hill — one that included a plea for mor...
By Stephen Taub • March 11, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
Class-action Values Plunging, but Not for Long
Both the number of federal securities class action settlements and their avergage value fell in 2008 — with the dollar amount plunging 50 percent, in fact. But the declines probably will be short-lived, the latest annual report by Cornerstone Research forecasts.Cornerstone, which said that the nu...
By Stephen Taub and Roy Harris • March 11, 2009 -
xdfolio. "Policies Standards Compliance" [Illustration]. Retrieved from Pixabay.
One Crunch after Another
Calls for coordinated fiscal stimulus to lift the world out of recession were joined at the weekend by Larry Summers, Barack Obama’s top economic adviser. Such coordination has been absent up to now, though that could change at the meeting of G20 leaders in London in early April. But there has be...
By Economist Staff • March 11, 2009
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