As expected, president-elect Barack Obama has named regulatory veteran Mary Schapiro, chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, as his pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to taking the helm of FINRA, the self regulatory organization formed by the 2007 merger of the regulatory arms of the National Association of Securities […]
Melissa Klein Aguilar
Posted inUncategorized
SEC Approves Final XBRL Rule
Just in time for the holidays, large companies got a gift from the Securities and Exchange Commission: Six extra months to comply with the long-awaited new rule mandating the use of interactive data. At its Dec. 17 open meeting, the SEC voted 4-1, with Commissioner Luis Aguilar dissenting, to adopt amendments that phase in a […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Cox Seeks IG Investigation Into Madoff Case
The news surrounding influential Wall Street money manager and former Nasdaq Stock Market chairman Bernard Madoff keeps getting worse. Acknowledging that the agency failed, for nearly a decade, to fully investigate allegations against the high-profile money manager now charged with securities fraud in a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Study Shows Underbelly of Excise Tax Grossups
In the sunlight of required disclosure, excise tax grossups are looking grosser than ever. A new study of grossups—where companies cover the 20 percent excise tax levied on severance payments that exceed certain limits imposed by the federal tax code—reveals that the payments can often cost millions, and often dwarf the underlying benefit the executive […]
Posted inData Privacy
Shop Talk: Best Practices on Fraud Risks
On Dec. 3, 2008, Compliance Week and the law firm of White & Case hosted an Editorial Roundtable on fraud risks in emerging markets at the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park Hotel in New York City. Eleven legal and compliance officers were invited to discuss how their companies address global fraud issues. The Roundtable was moderated by […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC Online Study of 404 Costs, Benefits Underway
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s online survey on the costs and benefits of the internal control reporting requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is underway. The Web-based study is part of an effort by SEC’s Office of Economic Analysis to obtain data on the experiences of companies in complying with the requirements of […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
IRS Issues 11th-Hour Guidance on 409A
Just ahead of the Dec. 31, 2008, deadline for compliance with the documentary requirements of Section 409A, the IRS has issued new guidance, in the form of Notice 2008-113, providing relief for certain operational violations. Notice 2008-113 replaces Notice 2007-100 and provides methods to address certain unintentional operational failures without incurring the full adverse tax […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
XBRL Rule Vote Scheduled for Dec. 17
The long-awaited final details of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan to mandate the use of interactive data are finally poised to become public. More than six months after it first published its proposed rule to phase-in the adoption of XBRL, or extensible business reporting language, which would require companies to furnish tagged data with […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC Posts Updated Financial Reporting Manual Online
Interested issuers and their advisers have a little light reading, courtesy of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has updated its Financial Reporting Manual—and for the first time, posted it online. The 267-page manual, prepared by the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance, is designed to be an internal reference document. The planned update, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Cox: Final XBRL Rule Coming This Month
Issuers might want to brush up on their XBRL over the holidays. The Securities and Exchange Commission appears poised to finalize its proposed rule to mandate the use of interactive data, according to its chairman. SEC officials have suggested for months that the final rule to require the use of eXtensible Business Reporting Language, proposed […]
