Randy Casstevens, the chief governance officer and former CFO at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, resigned last week to pursue personal interests, just as the company named Michael Phalen its new CFO. Casstevens had been acting as temporary CFO for nearly a year; his governance responsibilities will be transferred to general counsel Frank Murphy. Phalen, most recently […]
Compliance Week
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Non-Audit Service Approvals: Recent Disclosures
As most companies are aware, the new auditor independence rules adopted in January list nine non-audit services that are “outside the scope of practice of auditors.” That means they’re banned, courtesy of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 201. The services include: Bookkeeping or other services related to client’s accounting records or financial statements; Financial information systems design and […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
British Propose Their Own Version Of Sarbanes-Oxley
Last week, the British House of Lords introduced its own version of Sarbanes-Oxley in an effort, according to MP Jacqui Smith, to “raise corporate performance across the board and beyond.” Smith The bill, known as “The Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Bill,” would force companies to publish non-audit services provided by their auditors, impose […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Canadian Accountants Adopt Independence Standards
Last week, A group of Canadian-chartered accountants voted to adopt new auditor independence requirements that would hold auditors to higher professional and ethical standards. The new standard incorporates SOX requirements, as well as features of a similar standard issued by the International Federation of Accountants in 2001. Smith “This is a world-class standard,” said Canadian […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Companies Increasing Compensation Disclosures Of Peer Group
According to equity-compensation firm Equilar, the recent imbroglio at the NYSE “highlights the importance of peer group selection for CEO compensation analyses.” MORE INFO Compensation analysis conducted by Equilar. Equilar, in San Mateo, CA, can be reached via email or at (877) 441-6090. The firm recently analyzed S&P 100 companies to uncover trends regarding how […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Over 10% Of Fortune 500 Boards Lack Female Directors
While the total number of Fortune 500 companies with female board members has increased steadily since 1995, 54 of the largest U.S. companies have no directors that are women. Among the companies without female directors are General Dynamics, Computer Sciences Corp., Capital One Financial, and Apple Computer. According to a survey conducted by New York-based […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Talking Compliance, Ethics With Sun’s Chief Compliance Officer
Sun Microsystems has made news for holding a Fiduciary Boot Camp to train executives and managers on new fraud and accounting practices. This week, we talk to the company’s Chief Compliance Officer, David Farrell, about his business conduct training regimen, his group’s reporting structure, the process Sun initiates to conduct investigations, and more. Let’s talk […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Firms Detecting Fraud Through Internal Controls, Audits
Instances of fraud have risen 13 percent since 1998, but companies are taking more proactive measures to counter fraud than ever before. According to KPMG’s Fraud Survey 2003, company management is taking a more active approach in detecting fraud through internal controls and internal audits (see chart). In fact, over 75 percent of the organizations […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Chance Of Lawsuit Increases; Rate Of Dismissals Slows
LITIGATION The annual probability of facing a securities class action lawsuit has increased 40 percent since 1995. That’s according to Dr. Vinita Juneja, a SVP at NERA Economic Consulting, who recently completed a quantitative analysis of SOX’s impact on the volume and nature of class action litigation. According to Juneja, dismissals have also slowed since […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
GAO: Mandatory Auditor Rotation May Not Be Best Idea
A new GAO study states that mandatory audit firm rotation “may not be the most efficient way to strengthen auditor independence and improve audit quality.” The study, which was nearly four months late (it was mandated by SOX and was due back on July 30th), also stated that mandatory auditor rotation may cause a “loss […]
