I love reading comment letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission. What can I say? I get a kick out of it—it’s a great opportunity to understand the agendas of governance players, from institutional investors to corporate executives. It’s also hilarious. Before the SEC’s executive compensation disclosure rules were finalized, I’d spent some of my […]
Scott S. Cohen
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: Public Companies’ Cost Savings On SEC Backburner
The folks over at the Securities and Exchange Commission have been pretty busy this year. So far in 2006, they’ve already proposed rules on executive compensation disclosure, mutual fund fees, commodity trading, short selling, and more—including the Section 404 extension for non-accelerated filers. And just last month it announced it would propose an amendment on […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: Comments On Comments: Everyone’s Got An Angle
I love reading comment letters to the Securities and Exchange Commission. What can I say? I get a kick out of it—it’s a great opportunity to understand the agendas of governance players, from institutional investors to corporate executives. It’s also hilarious. Before the SEC’s executive compensation disclosure rules were finalized, I’d spent some of my […]
Posted inEthics & Culture
Editorial: Worst Practices From Boston’s Big Dig Officials
California has earthquakes. Kansas has tornados. Louisiana has hurricanes. Here in Boston, we have $14.6 billion taxpayer funded highway tunnels. And all of them kill. The night before this column was written, a couple from Boston was driving through an extension of the heavily traveled Massachusetts Turnpike, on their way to Logan International Airport to […]
Posted inTechnology
Editorial: XBR Hell: The SEC Tries To Dump Its Problems On Public Companies
My goodness, the Securities and Exchange Commission is pushing XBRL hard. Listening to Chairman Christopher Cox and reading the Commission’s related releases, you’d think they had found the Holy Grail of financial reporting. But it ain’t. XBRL, if you haven’t heard, is shorthand for “eXtensible Business Reporting Language.” Basically, it’s a “tagging” language, in which […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: NYSE Goes Chapter 11! Public Companies Jump Ship; SEC Files For Public Offering!
Ya, right—the Securities and Exchange Commission is going public. And the New York Stock Exchange is going to declare bankruptcy. That’s ridiculous. Or is it? Stranger things have happened. Consider this editor’s flight of fancy … The story starts in December 2004, when the Nasdaq Stock Market files its registration statement to go public. Actually, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: Missed Opportunities In Rules, Principles
I hate to say “I told you so”—but I did. About a year ago, I went through the ridiculous task of searching through nearly 6,000 “material definitive agreements” that had been filed by public companies since the Securities and Exchange Commission’s revised Form 8-K rule became effective. As I wrote in this column back in […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: Be It Resolved: Shareholder Proposals That Companies Should Expect This Proxy Season
With the 2006 proxy season approaching, I thought it made sense to inform you of a few shareholder proposals that are cropping up on our radar screen: WHEREAS the directors are charged with acting in the best interests of the corporation, be it resolved that the shareholders request the Board declare itself a “Moron-Free” zone, […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: “Compliance Week 2006” Conference Sessions Released
In our September 2005 print edition, I mentioned that Compliance Week was planning a symposium on governance, risk and compliance. For the event—scheduled for June 7-9, 2006, in Washington, D.C.—we put out a call for feedback, and were inundated with great ideas. To those ends, I’d like to offer a special thanks to readers who […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: Ode To A Fraud; A Humorous Take On SOX
STwas the night before Christmas and most of the hires were back in their houses, in front of their fires. All toasty inside as Northeasterlies blew, naïve of my plan, yes, they hadn’t a clue. And as the lights sparkled and as their kids knelt to open their toys (or their Hanukkah gelt) and gifts […]
