Appointment Blogs | Compliance Week – Page 258
-
Blog
Institute of Business Ethics Appoints New Trustees
The Institute of Business Ethics this week announced that it has appointed four new trustees to join the Trustee board, chaired by Edward Bickham. The new trustees replace recent retirees, as well as augmenting the skills and experience of the Trustee board. Details inside.
-
Blog
Analogic Proposes $1.6 Million FCPA Settlement
Analogic, an airport security and medical-imaging technology provider, said in a quarterly filing this week that it has proposed a $1.6 million settlement to the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case.The potential sanctions concern certain questionable transactions involving Analogic’s Danish subsidiary BK Medical and ...
-
Blog
SEC Calls for Attention to Credit Impairment Rules
Image: With a new standard expected before the end of the year to change the way financial institutions account for credit impairments, the SEC will be looking for strong processes and controls around critical judgments. Recently, SEC Chief Accountant James Schnurr told accountants at a conference to get ready to ...
-
Blog
GM to Pay $900 Million to Resolve Criminal Charges in Product Safety Case
General Motors today agreed to a $900 million forfeiture to resolve criminal charges for wire fraud and for concealing information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concerning safety defects in its vehicles. The automaker also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement under which it admitted that it failed to ...
-
Blog
Yates Memo: More Change Coming in FCPA Enforcement
Two weeks ago, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement took a formal turn when the Justice Department released the Yates Memo, which formalized the department’s new focus on prosecuting individuals under the FCPA. In the same week, there was a much less reported event that could have equally large effect on ...
-
Blog
Mentor Graphics Appoints Chief Accounting Officer
Mentor Graphics, a provider of electronic hardware and software design solutions, has appointed Richard Trebing to vice president of finance and chief accounting officer. Details inside.
-
Blog
Black Stone Minerals Names Chief Accounting Officer
Black Stone Minerals, an owner of oil and natural gas mineral interests in the United States, has appointed Dawn Smajstrla as chief accounting officer. Details inside.
-
Blog
SEC Tells Money Market Funds to Ditch Credit Ratings
The Securities and Exchange Commission has removed credit rating references from its rules governing money market funds, substituting a new risk-based asessmet of the securities they hold. The Dodd-Frank Act required all federal agencies to remove references to, or requirements involving, credit ratings issued by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations. ...
-
Blog
Doty Supporters Tell SEC: Let PCAOB Chair Stay Seated
Image: In response to SEC Chair Mary Jo White’s recent remarks that the SEC might replace Jim Doty as chairman of the PCAOB, nearly 30 individuals with heavy credentials in financial reporting from numerous policymaking groups fired off a letter to White, stumping for Doty’s reappointment. They credit Doty with ...
-
Blog
Swiss Authorities to Unveil New ‘Lex-FIFA’ Anti-Corruption Reform
A new draft anti-corruption law in Switzerland, named after scandal-ridden football organization FIFA, will treat bribery as a criminal offence and allow Swiss authorities to launch corruption probes against the country’s international sporting federations without tip-offs from inside the organization in question. Some members of Swiss Parliament argue that the ...
-
Blog
BoE: More ‘Debate’ Around Tougher Capital Rules Needed
Image: The Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, is calling for debate around whether financial institutions should set aside more capital to help them weather any potential losses. “[Capital requirements] will be 10x higher than pre-crisis. Should they be higher still? Right question for tomorrow. We need that debate,” ...
-
Blog
PCAOB Defends Regulatory Approach Amid Persistent Problems
PCAOB Chairman Jim Doty said recently he will meet with the U.S. Chamber of Congress if participants will discuss their own direct experiences with complaints outlined in the Chamber’s 19-page letter calling for a new inspections approach. “Hearsay is not helpful. We want to know where preparers really have been ...
-
Blog
Commerzbank Chief Risk Officer to Step Down
Stefan Schmittmann, chief risk officer of Commerzbank, has informed the company of his intent to leave the bank at the end of this year. In a statement, Schmittmann cited upcoming regulatory changes as part of the reason for his departure now, even though his contract with the company runs until ...
-
Blog
Culture Ate Strategy at Toshiba
Management guru Peter Drucker famously said culture eats strategy for breakfast. This time around, we examine Toshiba’s $1.2 billion financial fraud to see how true that saying is. Inside, columnist Richard Steinberg looks at the cultural patterns of Japan generally and Toshiba specifically that led to this meltdown, which reinforce ...
-
Blog
Advocacy Group Rolls Out 'Dump (Mary Jo) Truck' on D.C. Streets
What stunts are even left for the next disgruntled advocacy group to pursue? Skywriters? Taking over the television airwaves to deliver a message like the Joker in Batman? Falconers? Stay tuned!
-
Blog
Newman Decision Leads to Rare Loss for SEC in an AP
SEC Administrative Law Judge Jason Patil dismissed an insider-trading case against a former Wells Fargo trader, noting that the SEC failed to prove that the person who allegedly tipped the trader did so for a personal benefit, as required by the Second Circuit’s disruptive opinion in U.S. v. Newman. Patil ...
-
Blog
Remember the Cyber-Security Fundamentals
Image: Title: KellyCyber-security risk might seem overwhelming these days; compliance, audit, and risk professionals are all reeling from the speed and diversity of attacks. This week, editor Matt Kelly explores how to get closer to an effective cyber-security process by remembering the basics—such as behind every cyber-attack is someone committing ...
-
Blog
Labor Dept. Rule Bans Pay Talk Discipline by Gov. Contractors
The Department of Labor has issued a final rule prohibiting federal contractors from disciplining, firing, or discriminating against employees and job applicants who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or the pay of their coworkers. The rule applies to all federal contractors, sub-contractors, and contracts that exceed $10,000 in ...
-
Blog
Big Banks Agree to Preserve Records on Symphony Chat Program
New York State has reached agreements with Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, and Bank of New York Mellon regarding recordkeeping requirements for the Symphony chat and messaging platform, a service aimed at banks. The agreements require Symphony to retain all communications sent to or from the banks through its ...
-
Blog
The FCPA Enforcement World Changed Last Week
Image: The Yates Memo issued by the Justice Department last week, insisting that companies work much harder to help prosecute individuals if they want to receive cooperation credit, is likely to be a sea change in how compliance officers must address problems like Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations. Our FCPA ...