El Paso Settles Lawsuits

Officials at El Paso Corp. announced that they settled a shareholder class action and a derivative lawsuit that alleged that the energy company disseminated false and misleading financial information.Under the terms of the shareholder class action settlement, El Paso and its insurers will pay a t...

By Stephen Taub • Aug. 2, 2006

Toward a Global Regulator?

With the United States and Europe moving toward converging financial reporting standards globally, regulators worldwide are scrambling to harmonize their efforts, too.Like Robert Herz and Sir David Tweedie, of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Boa...

By Stephen Taub • Aug. 2, 2006

Legal Levity

Even during a deadly serious derivative-suit debate, humor seems to find a place in the courtroom of Delaware Vice Chancellor Leo Strine.His love for one-liners — even lame ones — can make hearings in his 12th-floor court in downtown Wilmington resemble open-mike night at the Improv. To explain h...

By Roy Harris • Aug. 1, 2006

Paulson: Regs Went Too Far

Treasury secretary Henry Paulson is the latest among a growing number of government and corporate leaders to suggest that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulatory changes passed in recent years have gone too far.In a speech Tuesday at Columbia University, the former head of Goldman Sachs, who ...

By Stephen Taub • Aug. 1, 2006

SEC Sues Five for Financial Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed financial fraud charges against five former executives of office products and computer supply distributor Daisytek International.The SEC alleges that the former officers—James Powell, CEO and president; Ralph Mitchell, CFO; Mark Corjay, controller;...

By Stephen Taub • Aug. 1, 2006

Time And Time Again

If there’s one Delaware Court of Chancery decision that Chancellor William Chandler second-guesses, it is the 16-year-old case of Paramount Communications v. Time, which upheld Time Inc.’s business judgment in rejecting a large acquisition offer in favor of pursuing its own merger plans.His feeli...

By Roy Harris • Aug. 1, 2006

Disney’s Deeper Meaning

If Walt Disney Co. was the one facing a judge in Georgetown, Delaware, the court itself was also on trial in a way. In Chancellor William Chandler’s view, it acquitted itself quite well. Over several months of 2004 and into 2005, the marathon case served “to demonstrate the Delaware Court of Chan...

By Roy Harris • Aug. 1, 2006

Regulators Probe Biovail’s Melnyk

Officials at Canadian pharmaceutical maker Biovail said the staff of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has made allegations against company Chairman Eugene Melnyk and a former director, among others.The OSC, which regulates securities in the province of Ontario, charges that Melnyk violated...

By Stephen Taub • July 31, 2006

Court Goes Easy on Qwest CFO

Former Qwest chief financial officer Robin Szeliga is not going to prison.Szeliga, who the Associated Press called the highest-ranking executive from Qwest to plead guilty in the telecom company’s accounting scandal, was sentenced to two years’ probation, six months of home detention, and a $250,...

By Stephen Taub • July 28, 2006

Happy Birthday, Sarbox!

When the Sarbanes-Oxley Act came squalling into existence on July 30, 2002, it was widely viewed as an unruly baby, spawning humongous costs and heavy compliance burdens for Corporate America. Now, on its fourth birthday, the law is being viewed in some circles as an amiable child — still difficu...

By David Katz • July 28, 2006

Ebbers Loses Appeal: Faces 25 Years

It looks like Bernie Ebbers is headed to prison.A federal appeals court upheld the former WorldCom chief executive’s conviction on charges stemming from the telecom company’s massive accounting fraud, according to the Associated Press.The decision sets the stage for Ebbers to begin serving a 25-y...

By Stephen Taub • July 28, 2006

Political Paycheck Deductions Get Easier

As the fall election season approaches, a recent policy change by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) could ease the recordkeeping burden for payroll departments, as well as for the finance executives who are often responsible for managing their company’s political action committee (PAC).As of ...

By Helen Shaw • July 28, 2006

Trade Groups: Dump Quarterly Guidance

Two trade group have called on companies and other stakeholders to end the practice of providing quarterly earnings guidance.The CFA Centre for Financial Market Integrity and the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics issued a report calling on corporate leaders, asset managers, inves...

By Stephen Taub • July 25, 2006

Backdating Flap Could Make Insurers Wary

With some eighty companies reportedly being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission over the possible illegal backdating of stock options, a set of related worries is cropping up among senior managements: the emergence of backdating-related shareholder lawsuits and the possible dwi...

By Jaclyn Marie • July 25, 2006

Cox: SEC Lacks Hedge Fund Power

Diffident about asking Congress to restore some of the power to regulate hedge funds that the Securities and Exchange Commission recently lost in court, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that he was making moves to rapidly take back at least some of the com...

By David Katz • July 25, 2006

Ex-HealthSouth CFO to Pay $6.9 Million

A former HealthSouth chief financial officer has agreed to pay at least $6.9 million for his role in the health care company’s $2.7 billion accounting fraud.Under the deal, Weston Smith, one of the five former HealthSouth CFOs who pleaded guilty and testified against their onetime boss, former ch...

By Stephen Taub • July 24, 2006

Morgan Stanley Chief Will Testify to SEC

Morgan Stanley chief executive officer John Mack will talk to the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its investigation into possible insider trading at hedge fund Pequot Capital Management Inc., according to published reports.“Yesterday, the SEC contacted John Mack and asked that he be ...

By Stephen Taub • July 21, 2006

Next from Sarbox: Industry Exemptions?

Dig up evidence of document retention procedures for auditors, or work on a viable treatment for prostate cancer. Print out screen shots that support testing of general computer controls, or answer an important phone call from a high net worth client. The choice is obvious for biotech and communi...

By Jabulani Leffall • July 21, 2006

Andrew Fastow’s Sentencing Delayed

The sentencing of Andrew Fastow, the former Enron CFO, has been put off one month.Fastow was slated to learn how much time he would spend in prison on August 28. Now, he will wait until September 26, according to the Houston Chronicle.The paper noted that sentencing delays in complex criminal cas...

By Stephen Taub • July 20, 2006

A Sarbox Legacy: Alan Beller

Most CFOs won’t forget Alan Beller. He is credited with overseeing the implementation of more than 15 rule-making efforts related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, including those requiring certification of the accuracy of financial reports by chief executive officers and chief financial officers. As he...

By Stephen Taub • July 20, 2006

Partners in Liability?

Are a company’s business partners liable in shareholder lawsuits against the company? A recent appeals court ruling on that question may have muddied the water enough to force the Supreme Court to impose a little clarity in this already murky area.The case, Simpson v. AOL Time Warner, turns on wh...

By Rob Garver • July 19, 2006

Fed Governor: Sarbox Spurs Cash Jitters

A widespread aversion to risks spawned by corporate scandals and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has helped push corporations to shore up whopping cash positions on their balance sheets, according to Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. In a speech Tuesday at the American EnterpriseInstitute, Warsh obse...

By Stephen Taub • July 18, 2006

Fastow to Testify Against NatWest Three

Examine our Enron archiveEnron’s former chief financial officer, Andrew Fastow, and one-time managing director, Michael Kopper, are expected to testify at the trial of the so-called NatWest Three, according to the British-based Guardian..The three former bankers, David Bermingham, Giles Darby, an...

By Stephen Taub • July 17, 2006

SEC Likes Its Own Plain English

Two years ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission began publicly releasing letters its staff writes to public companies when they have a comment — typically an objection of some kind — on the company’s public filing. A recent review of comments made about company 10Q filings suggests a consis...

By Tim Reason • July 14, 2006

How Regulation Drives up Insurance Costs

Assistant treasurers and corporate risk managers are linking up with the insurance industry to try to get Congress to strip the current insurance regulatory system of red tape. The effort, if it succeeds, could offer companies the chance to buy coverage from a federally regulated insurer rather ...

By David Katz • July 13, 2006