Companies that fail to stop fraud and dishonesty by their staff and agents could face prosecution under a new plan floated by the U.K. Serious Fraud Office. Britain’s top corporate fraud prosecutor says it wants to take the idea of holding companies responsible for corporate crimes committed by employees, a concept that is familiar in […]
Neil Baker
Posted inEurope
EU Data Privacy Laws Will Snag More U.S. Companies
European data privacy laws, already far more restrictive than those in the United States, are about to get stricter and will apply to more U.S. companies than they currently do. The EU is in the process of developing a new General Data Protection Regulation, a single Europe-wide set of data privacy rules currently […]
Posted inUncategorized
U.K. Set to Require Mandatory Reporting of GHG Emissions
Greenhouse Gas reporting is about to become mandatory and much more stringent for companies based in Britain. Publicly traded companies incorporated in the United Kingdom will have to disclose their Greenhouse Gas emissions, under new laws currently before Parliament, as early as for financial reporting years ending on or after Sept. 30, 2013. Many large […]
Posted inEurope
EU Set to Adopt More Stringent Data Privacy Laws
The European Parliament is working on a final proposal that would make the European Union’s already stringent data privacy laws even tougher for businesses and would cast a wider net, requiring many U.S. companies to comply with European data protection regulation for the first time. The Parliament was supposed to agree to a revised version […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
The End of U.K. GAAP
U.S. companies will have to start producing financials for all their British subsidiaries under a new financial reporting rulebook next year. The need to switch follows the completion last month of a U.K. project to abolish the country’s national accounting standards—U.K. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The change affects operations in the Republic of Ireland, too, […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
U.K.’s Bribery Act Fails to Deliver Significant Cases
When Britain’s Bribery Act went into effect in July 2011, it struck fear into the hearts of businesses and executives with operations in the United Kingdom. Yet more than a year and a half later, it’s yet to deliver a significant scalp. To date, no companies have been prosecuted, let alone convicted, under the Act. […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Top 10 Global Compliance Trends to Watch in 2013
With the Dodd-Frank Act rulemaking nearly complete, 2013 might be a slightly quieter year for regulatory change in the United States. Not so for Europe and other global regions. Global regulators, accounting standard setters, and foreign enforcement agencies have a full pipeline of new initiatives, many of which will affect U.S. businesses. Here are 10 […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Britain Waters Down Narrative Reporting Reforms
Good news for public companies in Britain: Regulators there have scaled back their requirements for narrative reporting, opening the door to simpler compliance even if companies must add a few new disclosures here and there. The moves are part of a larger effort to simplify the blizzard of words most public companies publish in their […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
U.K. Provides New Guidance on Bribery Act Compliance
Britain’s Serious Fraud Office announced tough-talking new policies earlier this month on how it will enforce its new Bribery Act. The agency says it is now taking a harder line on facilitation payments and corporate hospitality, and providing fewer leniencies for self-reporting. Mostly the changes are a matter of tone rather than substance, lawyers say. […]
Posted inUncategorized
U.K. Emissions Reporting Could Hit U.S. Companies
Britain has decided to introduce tough new laws on greenhouse gas disclosures next year that will likely require many businesses in the United States to capture, verify, and report far more data about their emissions of six gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The country’s coalition government announced last month that starting April […]