Once upon a time, the mere mention of the California Public Employees Retirement System could make any executive break into a sweat and wonder: What does CalPERS want now? Mention the $239 billion pension fund giant these days and you’re likely to hear a different question: What the heck is going on over there? In […]
Judd Elizabeth
Posted inInternal Controls
Under the Radar: Threat of Safety Controls
Lapses in safety controls might not seem like the sort of thing that could cause material financial problems for a company … right up until the airline industry strands hundreds of thousands of people across the country while it catches up on safety inspections. Then you start wondering how much all this is going to […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Going Private Wisely and Profitably
Companies struggling with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, shareholder activists, and turbulent credit markets often dream of some private equity firm swooping in and whisking them away from it all. Finding a buyer to do that, however, can be a harsher reality. Foremost, private equity experts say companies looking to go private must put in a lot of […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Communicating a Solid Corporate Reputation
Sure, inclusion on some “Best Companies to Work For” list can bag some nice headlines for a business. Nowadays, however, a sterling reputation brings far more than good publicity: It adds a tremendous boost to shareholder value, and even to a company’s bottom line. According to a 1998 study by The Conference Board, for example, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Risk Management Falters, and M&A Cools
Mergers and acquisitions have been a mainstay of Corporate America for more than a decade, first as sky-high stock prices and then a flood of private equity gave companies oodles of purchasing power to do deals—the bigger, the better. No more. Numerous forces have converged on the M&A world in the last 12 months to […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Records Management: A Governance Crisis?
A new survey says that only 7 percent of senior executives and board directors consider records management a top issue for their company—compared to a whopping 40 percent of law departments on the front lines of litigation and growing demands for speed access to relevant electronic data. The study, the Chief Legal Officer 2008 Strategic […]
Posted inEthics & Culture
Lawyers Fume Over EU Attorney-Client Privilege Decision
If in-house counsel advise their coworkers based anywhere in the European Union on a competition matter, the conversations, e-mails, and documents aren’t protected by attorney-client privilege, according to a controversial decision handed down on September 17, 2007. General counsel across Europe roundly condemned Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd. v. Commission, which found that attorney-client privilege in […]