The Financial Services Authority has fired a warning shot at banks thinking of paying their executives guaranteed bonuses that run for more than a year. In a letter sent to more than 40 chief executives in the financial services sector, the head of the U.K. regulator, Hector Sants, cautioned that the offer of such a […]
Global Glimpses
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
ACCA Warns About Political Interference in IFRS
Leaders of the G20 nations must underline their commitment to a single set of global accounting standards when they meet in Pittsburgh this September, or unease about the future of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will grow, according to a policy paper from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. The London-based body warned that “political […]
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U.K Attempts ‘Sea Change’ in Corruption Enforcement
New guidance from the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office aimed at encouraging companies to self-report cases of overseas corruption represent a “sea change” in the agency’s approach to tackling corporate crime, according to a briefing from law firm Fulbright & Jaworski. The guidance adopts several clear themes from the U.S Department of Justice, including the involvement […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
U.K. Looks at Dumping ‘Comply or Explain’ Governance
The U.K. is looking at abandoning the “comply or explain” model that underpins its corporate governance code as a way of easing the compliance pressure on companies. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the U.K. corporate regulator, revealed that it was considering the move when it published an interim report on its current review of the […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Australian Corporate Governance Getting Worse
Corporate governance standards at Australian companies are getting worse, with a high percentage showing “significant deficiencies” in their boardroom practices, according to a report from accountants WHK Horwath. Less than 16 percent of the country’s 250 largest companies are achieving best practice standards, the firm says. Among the country’s largest listed companies, 5.6 percent (14 […]
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U.K. Extends ‘Fit and Proper’ Test to U.S. Staff
Employees of U.S. financial firms that do business in London could have to ask the U.K.’s regulator to approve their suitability for the job under a new scheme. The Financial Services Authority already has a strict program of approving key personnel at the country’s financial firms. But it has now extended the scheme to cover […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
IFAC Calls for Crucial Reporting Roadmap
The International Federation of Accountants has called on governments and regulators around the world to speed up their adoption of global accounting and auditing standards. After a summit of IFAC members in London the organization’s president, Robert Bunting, said it was “crucial” that national standard-setters establish roadmaps for the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
European Accountants Tell IASB to Dump Convergence
The International Accounting Standards Board should abandon its efforts to converge global reporting rules with U.S. accounting standards, and focus instead on making its standards better and less complex, according to a body that speaks for the European accounting profession. FEE (the Federation of European Accountants) says it supported International Financial Reporting Standards and believed […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
FSA Told to Report On Pay Code Compliance
The U.K. government has moved to add some extra kick to the Financial Services Authority’s efforts to stop banks and other financial firms using pay and bonus deals that encourage excessive risk taking. Last year the FSA published a draft code of conduct on remuneration that said firms must “establish, implement, and maintain remuneration policies, […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Audit Committees Feel “Very Effective,” Despite Crisis
The quality of corporate governance among the world’s leading companies has been widely criticized of late, with some blaming poor boardroom practice in the financial sector for the global downturn. But audit committee members around the world feel they have been doing a good job, according to a new KPMG survey: 89 percent rated themselves […]