A group of large institutional investors who are suing Delphi Corp. have asked the judge presiding over the company’s bankruptcy proceedings to disqualify Deloitte & Touche from continuing to audit the auto-parts maker’s financial statements, citing a potential conflict of interest. “The more Deloitte were to discover about Delphi’s past accounting problems, the more it […]
Stephen Taub
Posted inFrom the Archive
Link Between Large Options Issuers, Stock Buybacks
Corporate America has fallen in love with its own stock. Companies are buying back their shares at a record pace this year: Through the third quarter, companies that comprise the S&P 500 repurchased about $245 billion of their shares and figure to buy back more than $300 billion for the year, according to Standard & […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Unions Gear Up For Active 2006 Proxy Season
The American Bar Association’s Committee on Corporate Laws, which is studying possible revisions to the Model Business Corporation Act related to director elections, has delayed the release of its recommendations until February 2006. And though the group has been relatively quiet regarding its deliberations, in a brief report on its latest meeting the committee reiterated […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Option Play: S&P Advances Debate Over Analyst Estimates
Standard & Poor’s has stirred up the debate about how analysts and companies should report stock option-related expenses in net earnings estimates. S&P said it would include all option expense in Operating and As Reported earnings for its U.S. indices, including its widely used S&P 500. “The ability to compare costs across company and sector […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Board Election Recommendations Expected
With every passing week, the majority vote movement appears to gain momentum. In fact, nearly every few days, another company voluntarily joins the growing ranks of companies that have agreed to amend their corporate governance guidelines to stipulate that if the majority of votes cast are “withheld” for a director in an uncontested election, that […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Number Of Late Filers Continues To Surge
Companies continue to miss their filing deadline at an alarmingly growing rate. According to a quarterly analysis by Glass, Lewis & Co., 98 companies filed for a five-day extension to report their results for the three-month period ending in September. This compares with 77 in the second quarter. [The data include companies with market caps […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Bondholders Concerned About Missed Filing Deadlines
Can a company default on its bonds if it doesn’t file its quarterly or annual financials on time? That issue has become the subject of a heated battle between BearingPoint and investors in two of its convertible securities, who claim the company is in default because BearingPoint has not filed its 2004 report or its […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Material Adverse Conditions Open To Interpretation
When Johnson & Johnson informed Guidant Corp. that it was not required to go through with its planned $25.4 billion acquisition, the health care giant cited a series of events that have had “a material adverse effect” on Guidant. For example, the $47.3 billion consumer products giant referred to “previously announced product recalls at Guidant […]
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Patriot Act, OFAC Compliance Pose Significant Challenges
When PricewaterhouseCoopers recently polled 210 board members at its 2005 Financial Services Audit Committee Forum in New York, the attendees singled out complying with the Patriot Act as a top concern for the boards of financial services firms. The Patriot Act ranked higher than recent regulatory financial disclosure issues and key macroeconomic indicators—a telling indicator, […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
Class Action And “Opt Out” Lawyers Duke It Out
When Bill Lerach announced that his law firm recovered more than $651 million for investors who were not part of the class action lawsuits arising from the financial collapse of WorldCom, the high-profile lawyer hailed the recoveries as “unprecedented.” “Recoveries represent premium over class action settlement,” screamed part of the headline announcing the settlement. “Our […]
