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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shielding Yourself Against Fraud

(Click here to view video of this and all other available presentations from the latest CFO Rising conference.)Inside corporations, the financial crisis has sparked a renewed interest in the talents of CFOs, who are expected to come up with ways to simultaneously cut costs and offer growth plans ...

By Sarah Johnson • March 11, 2009

Eurozone Says No to Fresh Stimulus

Eurozone finance ministers yesterday rejected calls for increased economic stimulus measures, despite a worsening outlook for the EU economy. They also rejected any easing of the requirements for joining the eurozone.Speaking after a meeting of the Eurogroup, which brings together the finance min...

By European Voice Staff • March 11, 2009

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

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

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

Sanmina Puts Backdating Woes Behind It

Sanmina-SCI Corp. settled federal and state litigation from 2006 that stemmed from some of its stock-option grant practices. Under the deal, certain options and cash payments will be repriced and cancelled, resulting in a $16.5 million benefit to the electronics contract manufacturer.In addition,...

By Stephen Taub • March 10, 2009

Reports of Small-time Crime March On

Even in a time of large-scale financial wrongdoing, allegations of smaller-scale crimes march on.Two peculiar cases showed up in press reports from the Midwest and West Coast over the weekend. One, in San Marcos, Calif., involved charges of embezzlement by a financial executive alleged to have us...

By Stephen Taub • March 9, 2009