I’m pleased to be participating—for the fifth time—in Compliance Week’s annual conference. Saying that makes me feel a bit like Phil Connors, the weatherman played by Bill Murray in the movie “Groundhog Day,” who had to repeat the same day over and over again, until he finally got it right. In my case, I hope […]
Harvey L. Pitt
Posted inUncategorized
Following the Road to IFRS Convergence
In signing the Gold Standard Act of 1900, President William McKinley declared that gold, not silver, would underlie the U.S. monetary system. That Act didn’t last long, predictions to the contrary notwithstanding, and today, our nation’s economy is based on only two things expected from Washington, D.C.: promises and trust. The former is found in […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Risk of Failing to Understand ERM Risks
In the 1996 movie “Mother,” Albert Brooks plays John Henderson, a writer of questionable talent, who’s just been through his second divorce, due to his fundamental inability to relate to women. To probe his back-to-back marital failures, Brooks moves in with his mother, Beatrice, played by Debbie Reynolds, to examine his most important female relationship, […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
The Board’s Role in Bringing Legal Trouble to an End
When civil litigants agree to settle their disputes, they expect judicial approval, if not praise. The rubric of our judicial system is that litigation should be discouraged, and settlements of filed lawsuits should be encouraged. This expectation is even more pronounced if the government is one of the parties. Courts understandably show great deference to […]
Posted inEthics & Culture
Retaining Ethical Cultures During a Weak Economy
Editor’s note: Harvey Pitt recently provided a keynote address at Compliance Week’s 4th annual conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., June 3-5. Below is an abridged version of the text of the speech. I’ve been asked to discuss how cultures of integrity, ethics, and compliance can be instilled or maintained in downward-spiraling economies. […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
FIN 48 Turns Two, and Certainly Isn’t All That Bad
Back in the halcyon days of June 2006, the Dow was 11,000, unemployment was 4.6 percent, and our collective mood was best described by the title of the movie, “On a Clear Day, You Can See Forever.” So, too, apparently, was the mood at the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which issued Financial Interpretation No. 48, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Transparency Key to Securities Markets’ Comeback
Our financial and capital markets are going to hell in a hand basket. Among other things: U.S. securities markets have lost trillions in market capitalization; independent investment banking firms have disappeared, changing Wall Street forever; housing foreclosures threaten to hit staggering numbers; bank failures have increased three-fold already this year, with more to come; credit […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Regulation That Achieves What We Need Today
Editor’s note: Harvey Pitt recently provided a keynote address at Compliance Week’s annual conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., June 4-5. Below is an abridged version of the text of the speech. I was asked to discuss the regulatory pendulums and what its recent trajectory means for public company executives. I must start […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
“For Want of a Nail”: ERM for the Regulators
During the Revolutionary Era in this country, Benjamin Franklin printed an old English rhyme in his Poor Richard’s Almanack that touted the benefits of preparedness and preparation: For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Sub-prime Mess: What a Way to Run a Railroad
In modern times, in the aftermath of business difficulties, many of us often exclaim, “That’s no way to run a railroad.” What we mean, of course, is that leadership was lacking, or that leaders made critical errors. The phrase is derived from the caption of a Depression-era cartoon that showed a signalman peering out of […]