Reese Darragh

The Securities and Exchange Commission has received 334 tips from whistleblowers for fiscal year 2011, according to the annual report released today by the agency. The SEC clarified that since the final rules governing the establishment of its Office of the Whistleblower went into effect on Aug. 12, the data collected only reflects reported activities […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission has formally proclaimed the independence of its Office of the Ethics Counsel as a stand-alone unit with in the agency. The head of the office, known as the Ethics Counsel, will now report directly to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro instead of reporting to the Commission’s general counsel as previously done. Several […]

Even without the presence of regulatory obligations, more than half of the S&P 100 now voluntarily disclose their political spending habits, according to the recently released CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability. If institutional shareholder groups get their way, that number could increase dramatically. The index is part of a report produced by […]

A funding boost may be on the horizon for two regulators tasked with the job of implementing the Dodd-Frank Act based on a proposal issued by the Obama Administration yesterday. Presented by Sen. Dan Inouye (D-HA), the statement of administration policy issued by the Executive Office of the President’s Office of Management and Budget, strongly […]

Pay practices that indicate excessive appetite for risk, poor relationship between pay and performance, and companies’ inabilities to use sound performance measures when determining executive compensation are some of the reasons why more than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies get a failing grade in their executive compensation scorecards. In the inaugural study compiled by executive […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission approved the stringent reverse merger listing standards proposed by three securities exchanges following a series of trading suspension of more than 35 companies in recent months due to the lack of current and accurate financial and general information about the firms. A number of these companies are formed via reverse […]

Compliance officers at healthcare and pharmaceutical companies who are waiting for government rules on disclosure of payments to medical professionals will wait even longer. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has missed an Oct. 1 deadline for the rules, and now says the spring of 2012 is a more likely time frame. Donald Berwick, […]

On Oct. 18, 2011, Compliance Week and OpenPages presented an editorial roundtable at the Four Seasons in New York. The focus of the roundtable, which was moderated by Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly, was on managing Dodd-Frank compliance. Gordon Burnes Vice President, MarketingOpenPages   Gordon Burnes, vice president, marketing at OpenPages, is responsible for leading […]