Mark Olson, a governor of the Federal Reserve Board, has been named the next permanent chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, to fill a term until 2010. Olson replaces William McDonough, who headed the PCAOB until stepping down late last year. Bill Gradison has been acting chairman since December, and he will remain […]
Martinek Paul J.
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC Debuts A New Weapon: Patriot Act
The Securities and Exchange Commission fired another shot across the bow of the securities industry last month, and this time decided to use a new weapon in its arsenal. A Los Angeles brokerage firm, Crowell, Weedon & Co., became the first company to be sanctioned by the SEC under the USA Patriot Act—yes, that Patriot […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Help On Past Auditors; Equity Deals; More
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has published a series of staff questions and answers on how to adjust prior-period financial statements that had been audited by a predecessor auditor. Among other points, the Q&A notes that: Several factors should be considered when determining whether a successor auditor is able to audit only the adjustment […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Beyond Delete: Intelligent Email Policies
Corporate email retention policies continue to be driven by fears of litigation, leading many companies to adhere to strict “save it until you can delete it” procedures. But more nuanced alternatives exist for companies that want their email policies to be motivated more by business needs than legal risks. Kennedy “Some companies just don’t get […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
When Security And Securities Laws Collide
In an unprecedented move, the Bush Administration has given its director of national intelligence the authority to exempt corporations from making certain disclosures required by federal securities laws. The revelation, first reported by Business Week in May, surprised several securities lawyers who spoke with Compliance Week, although many say it’s to be expected in the […]
Posted inInternal Controls
‘Political Risk’ Can PAC A Compliance Punch
Politics can be an expensive game. And anyone who wants to know the cost of sloppy politics might want to check with the Federal Home Mortgage Loan Corp. Freddie Mac, as the company is commonly known, agreed in April to pay a $3.8 million fine to the Federal Election Commission—the largest penalty in FEC history. […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Choosing Right Leadership, Organization For CSR
In the still-evolving field of corporate social responsibility, there’s no right way or wrong way to structure a CSR function, experts say. And despite the inherent legal risks associated with CSR programs, considerable disagreement exists as to how much involvement a company’s lawyers should have. Savitz Andrew Savitz, a Boston-based consultant who helped found the […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Internal Probes: Where Attorney-Client Privilege Ends
It can be lonely at the top for corporate executives—figuratively and, when the C-suite comes under investigation, legally. Although executives may be inclined to view the general counsel as their ally, attorneys inside and outside the corporation represent only the company, not individual executives. The point may seem obvious to some, but it’s one that […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Lessons From Defender (And Suer) Of Public Companies
Harry Olivar is something of a rarity. He began his career as a litigator at the firms of Sullivan & Cromwell and Dewey Ballantine, exclusively representing corporate defendants such as Goldman Sachs & Co. He then joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges in Los Angeles in 2000, and started suing on behalf of shareholders […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Case Bolsters Internal Documents Protection
A federal judge in Boston recently blocked efforts by plaintiff lawyers to obtain valuable audit documents created during a company’s internal investigation—a supportive but sobering reminder that in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley age of multiple investigations by audit committees, regulators and civil litigants, companies must use care to ensure sensitive information uncovered during internal probes doesn’t end […]