When Reader’s Digest Association Inc. recently reported a 21 percent drop in quarterly earnings and cut its fiscal year guidance due to weaker-than-expected results from its consumer business services division, the stock dropped more than 3.5 percent in one day, to below $14 a share. The drop was a stark reminder that merely improving a […]
Stephen Taub
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
First Whistleblower Regains Job Under Sarbanes-Oxley
The chief financial officer of a puny bank in a rural Virginia town appears to be the first individual to get back his job under the new whistleblower rules mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. On Jan. 28, Stephen L. Purcell, Administrative Law Judge for the Department of Labor, published an order that David Welch be […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Pension Giants May Push Environmental Disclosures
Move over staggered boards, poison pills and golden parachutes. Here comes the Green Wave. California State treasurer Phil Angelides has launched a four-prong environmental initiative with the goal to boost the financial returns of pensioners and tax payers, create jobs and clean up the environment. Angelides is calling on the state’s two large public pension […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Accounting Firms Spurn Public Clients; What’s The Impact?
A growing number of accounting firms are choosing to get out of the business of providing auditing work for publicly traded companies. In the past few months alone, at least four regional accounting firms have taken this route. They include Minneapolis-based Larson Allen, the 18th largest accounting firm, according to Bowman’s Accounting Reports. The other […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Is Nepotism Against The Law? It’s All In The Disclosure
Is it against securities laws to hire your brother and in-laws? RELATED DISCLOSURE Lear Receives Informal SEC Inquiry Southfield, Mich., January 20, 2004 – Lear Corporation [NYSE: LEA] today announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has commenced an informal inquiry into the Company’s September 2002 amendment of its 2001 Form 10-K. The […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
$1.5 Billion May Be Slated For “Fair Funds.” What Is It?
In the few days leading up to Christmas, the SEC was either playing the role of Santa Claus or Scrooge, depending upon your perspective. On Dec. 22 it reached a settlement with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), for its role in Enron’s manipulation of its financial statements. As part of the deal, CIBC […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SEC Targets Another Possible Regulation FD Violation
Will loose lips sink another ship? Amylin Pharmaceuticals said shortly before the holidays that the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into whether it violated the three-year-old Regulation Fair Disclosure rules. In a brief, two-sentence announcement in an 8-K filing, the San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company with a $2.1 billion market cap said the SEC is […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Environmental Disclosures Next For Public Companies?
Is there a connection between global warming and good corporate governance? The answer to that question is a resounding “yes,” according to many of the biggest and most influential pension funds. So, last Friday a number of state and city treasurers and comptrollers and large labor pension funds met with senior representatives of Wall Street […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Three More Companies Act On Investor Recommendations
A growing number of companies are suddenly listening to what their shareholders have to say. In just the past couple of weeks alone, at least three companies announced new governance rules, apparently in response to majority votes at their shareholder meetings earlier in the year. Now, remember, those votes were not binding. “Companies are more […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Shareholder Resolutions Forcing Governance Changes
When shareholders speak, more and more companies are apparently listening — especially when it comes to improving their corporate governance. In just the past week alone, at least two companies announced changes that would ostensibly remove barriers to outsiders launching an unsolicited takeover. Wyeth Last Wednesday, $14.6 billion pharmaceutical company Wyeth said its board of […]