At a CFO Summit held last week in Boston, SEC Commissioner Roel Campos confirmed that the SEC is considering a delay of the internal control provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley for smaller issuers. “Relief for small business is being looked at,” said Campos. “We’re asking questions like, ‘What exemptions are deserved?’ and, ‘If you give too many […]
Klein Erin
Posted inEthics & Culture
Analysts At Investment Firms Urge Better Reporting
Last week, a group of analysts at 17 investment firms pushed public companies to “meet a higher standard of reporting” on environmental, social and corporate governance matters. The firms, which represent more than $147 billion in assets, want companies to base their reporting on the Global Reporting Initiative’s “Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.” The GRI is an […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Shareholder Litigation Against Foreign Companies On Rise
According to a recent study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, shareholder litigation against foreign companies is on the rise this year. But experts note the numbers are low, and that they may actually decrease over the long term. The study compared the 15 class actions filed against foreign registrants in all of 2003 with the 21 through […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Titan, Rite Aid Appoint Compliance Officers
Three large public companies, including $1.7 billion Titan Corp., named compliance leaders last week, continuing a trend that has been noted in Compliance Week and elsewhere in recent months. Danjczek Titan, the defense contractor whose acquisition bid by Lockheed-Martin was disrupted amid a federal probe into bribery allegations, announced last Tuesday that David Danjczek had […]
Posted inInternal Controls
EU Companies May Lag In SOX 301, 404 Readiness
Arecent survey suggests that nearly 70 percent of European companies are only at the beginning stages of their Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 projects, and that many of them are all but ignoring the whistleblower provisions of SOX 301. The study, conducted by Netherlands-based consulting firm A.R.C. Morgan, surveyed 376 companies from 21 European countries. Most respondents […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
$8.7 Billion Arrow Electronics Appoints Compliance Officer
Wayne Brody, currently serving as vice president, legal affairs, and assistant secretary with Arrow Electronics, was recently appointed to the additional position of chief compliance officer. Brody Brody has served with the electronic components distributor since 1985, in such positions as corporate counsel, general counsel North American operations, and vice president, legal affairs. His new […]
Posted inInternal Controls
51 Internal Control Disclosures In May
According to a review of regulatory filings during the month of May, 51 companies disclosed material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal controls, or provided updates on the status of their control-improvement processes. That number is up from 39 similar disclosures in April, and 28 in March. (See box at right for previous months’ data). […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
The New Split? President, CEO Positions Separated
In recent months, we’ve grown accustomed to writing about companies separating—or combining—the roles of chairman and CEO. Most of the companies making the split cite best practices in corporate governance as their motivation. Another motivator is institutional investors, as several pension funds have urged companies to make the split, or at least name a lead […]
Posted inInternal Controls
39 Internal Control Disclosures In April
According to a review of regulatory filings during the month of April, 39 companies disclosed material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal controls, or provided updates on the status of their control-improvement processes. That number is up from 28 similar disclosures in March, 18 in February, and 23 in January. (See box at right for […]
Posted inInternal Controls
28 Internal Control Disclosures In March
According to a review of regulatory filings during the month of March, 28 companies disclosed material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal controls, or provided updates on the status of their control-improvement processes. That number is up from 18 similar disclosures in February, and 23 in January. (See box at right for previous months’ data). […]
