Continuing its persistent promotion of eXtensible Business Reporting Language, the Securities and Exchange Commission has unveiled plans for its own Web tools, which it says would “let investors and analysts exploit interactive data to analyze mutual fund and corporate information.” The SEC published a request for proposals from software vendors, seeking estimates to develop Web-based […]
Melissa Klein Aguilar
Posted inEthics & Culture
Assessing, And Improving, Ethical Culture
Post-Enron, scrutiny of the ethics of Corporate America remains a high priority for investors and regulators. Companies have responded by beefing up their ethics and compliance departments, with many creating chief ethics or chief compliance officer posts and devoting considerable resources to those functions. But after they’ve put their programs in place, how do companies […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Q&A With Schering-Plough’s Global Compliance Leader
In the latest of our weekly Q&As with governance and compliance executives, we talk to Brent Saunders, senior vice president of global compliance and business practices at pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough. An index of previous conversations is available here. Describe your role in Schering-Plough’s compliance function. My role is relatively new. It was created by our […]
Posted inInternal Controls
New 404 Extension, As SEC Preps Guidance
Memo from the Securities and Exchange Commission to smaller public companies: Ask and ye shall receive … a delay. The SEC’s decision last week to extend—yet again—the deadline for non-accelerated filers to comply with Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley gives small public companies still more time to get their internal controls in order. Equally important, the […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
SEC Relents In Final Comp Rule; Clarity On Options, CD&A
Perhaps portending the amount of paperwork companies will face to comply with its new rules, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its final text on the disclosure of executive and director pay last week—all 436 pages of it. Along with the text, the SEC called for comment a revised proposal to require that companies disclose […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC Relents In Final Comp Rule; Clarity On Options, CD&A
Perhaps portending the amount of paperwork companies will face to comply with its new rules, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its final text on the disclosure of executive and director pay last week—all 436 pages of it. Along with the text, the SEC called for comment a revised proposal to require that companies disclose […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Two Years Out, SEC May Stem The 8-K Flood
Two years after the Securities and Exchange Commission opened the floodgates for companies to file Form 8-Ks, increased disclosure is indeed gushing through the investor landscape—even if it sometimes washes away insightful statements in the process. The SEC overhauled its rules for 8-K disclosures in August 2004, expanding the list of “material events” that must […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Restatements Missing From 8-Ks; EU Convergence; More
A government watchdog agency says some companies are still remiss in disclosing restatement announcements despite stricter rules about publicizing such news, and is calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission both to clarify its requirements for Form 8-K filings and to investigate potential noncompliance. In a report issued last week, the Government Accountability Office said […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Q&A With Rohm And Haas’ Governance, Compliance Head
In the latest of our weekly Q&As with governance and compliance executives, we talk to Gail Granoff, chief compliance and governance officer at Rohm and Haas, an $8 billion maker of paints and industrial coatings. An index of previous conversations is available here. Tell us about how Rohm and Haas came to create a governance […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Thompson Memo Under Fresh Fire For Reform
Following what some praise as a landmark ruling where a federal judge blasted the tactics of government prosecutors and struck down crucial portions of the so-called Thompson Memo, the legal world is abuzz over the implications of the case, and some are pushing the Justice Department to modify its guidance to prosecutors. The decision, handed […]