The UK is set to change its rules on corporate takeovers to make it harder for hostile bids to succeed. Bidding companies will also have to disclose more about what they plan to do with the target company’s assets and its employees. And they will have to stick to any promises they make for at […]
Global Glimpses
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Investors Back Stewardship Code
A new British code of practice aimed at getting big investors to challenge companies more effectively on governance issues has achieved “critical mass”, according to the head of the regulator that produced it. But Baroness Hogg, chair of the Financial Reporting Council, said getting investors to sign up to its Stewardship Code was just a […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Non-Accountant to Replace Tweedie at IASB
The International Accounting Standards Board announced today that the new man in charge of International Financial Reporting Standards will be a Dutch financial markets regulator and former politician who is not an accountant. IASB said Hans Hoogervorst would replace Sir David Tweedie as chairman when he retires at the end of June 2011. Hoogervorst is […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Survey Illuminates Black Hole of Compliance Spending
Global companies are planning to nearly double their spending on governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) over the next eighteen month, but could be throwing their investments into a “multi-billion dollar black hole” because they lack focus, according to a survey from Ernst & Young. The firm said two-thirds of the global companies in its survey […]
Posted inInternal Controls
SocGen Rogue Trader Gets Three Years; $7bn Fine
A French court has sentenced Societe General rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel to three years in prison and ordered him to pay €4.9bn ($6.75bn) in damages for unauthorized risk taking that almost broke the bank in 2008. “By his deliberate actions, he put in peril the existence of the bank that employed 140,000 people, of which […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Tax Haven Probe Finds Serious Matters
An independent investigation into government and judicial corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a Caribbean tax haven, has uncovered “additional serious matters,” according to the person leading the inquiry. Helen Garlick, a former senior prosecutor at the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office, was appointed to lead a criminal investigation after an earlier probe found evidence […]
Posted inRisk Management
Companies Failing to Learn Risk Lessons
As the financial crisis abates, companies are likely to return to the limited “compliance-based” approach to risk management that got so many of them into trouble, according to a new study by accountants Grant Thornton. The firm surveyed senior executives at 465 U.K. and Irish companies and found “disappointing” attitudes to risk management. Risk processes […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Compliance Fatigue Causes Bad Shareholder Reporting
Suffering from “compliance fatigue,” U.K. corporate executives are producing shareholder reports that keep regulators happy but risk undermining shareholder trust in their abilities, according to a report from accountants at PwC. The problem was caused by “successive waves of ad hoc legislation, regulation, and governance requirements,” said David Phillips, head of corporate reporting at PwC. […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
FSA Gets Tough on Media Relations
U.K. regulator the Financial Services Authority has launched a crackdown on companies that leak price-sensitive information to journalists. The move follows the regulator’s concern that an increasing number of senior corporate executives has been strategically leaking information. A new paper sets out strict policies that companies and their advisers are expected to follow when dealing […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
U.K. Warns Cos. Against Paper Compliance on Bribery
The U.K. government has started consultation on how a key part of its new Bribery Act will work in practice, warning companies that they will need to “go beyond paper compliance” when the Act takes effect next April. Companies will face prosecution under the Act if staff or third-party agents pay or offer bribes and […]
