Melissa Klein Aguilar

The four Republican members of the high-profile panel created to investigate the causes of the financial crisis have posted their own views of what happened, a month before the full Commission is set to issue its report to Congress. Amid reports of a rift within its ranks, four of the 10 members of the Financial […]

Pfizer Corp. is turning heads in corporate governance circles with a new board-level committee oversee regulatory compliance—complete with its own independent funding source—that could become a model for other companies. The pharmaceutical giant promised to create the committee as part settling a derivative shareholder lawsuit that sprang from earlier allegations of misconduct over how Pfizer […]

The staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission has posted some updated guidance for filers and mutual funds on complying with the Commission’s interactive data disclosure rules. The Staff of the Office of Interactive Data has updated a set of Frequently Asked Questions explaining the new rendering navigation structure (which affects how the XBRL displays […]

A gentle reminder from the Federal Trade Commission: Make sure your information security plan covers the digital copiers your company uses. The agency has some tips for businesses on safeguarding sensitive data, such as Social Security numbers, account numbers, or health records that may be stored on the hard drives of digital copiers, in order […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan for a new whistleblower bounty program isn’t even in place yet, and critics are already citing a slew of unintended consequences that the new rules are likely to cause. At the top of the list is a prediction that the SEC will be flooded with unsubstantiated allegations that will […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are forging ahead with their Dodd-Frank Act mandate to write new rules to bring the derivatives market under the regulatory umbrella. As part of their work to establish a framework for regulating the over-the counter swaps market, the agencies have published their proposed definitions […]

Some small business owners, including many lawyers, accountants, and healthcare providers, got just the holiday gift they’ve been hoping for: Relief from complying with a broadly written rule that would’ve required them to implement a detailed written program to prevent and detect red flags that might indicate identity theft. The Red Flag Program Clarification Act, […]

Good news for employers: The Internal Revenue Service has issued new guidance that provides more relief for nonqualified deferred compensation plans subject to Section 409A. Notice 2010-80 expands the types of plans eligible for document correction under previous IRS guidance, provides an additional method for correcting certain errors involving payments at separation from service subject […]

It sounds like the start of a Jeff Foxworthy joke: “You might be a fiduciary if …” The Labor Department, however, has proposed putting a lot more new language onto the end of that opening line. Pension plan advisers and overseers aren’t laughing. The department’s plan is to broaden the definition of “fiduciary” under the […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s sweeping insider-trading probe of Wall Street is looking squarely at corporate policies for guarding material, non-public information. Compliance officers should know what that means: The SEC is looking at you. Inadequate policies in that area recently landed two affiliated New York-based asset management firms and their former chief compliance officer […]