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From the very beginning of my work getting Viacom’s Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts off the ground in 2003, one thing always struck me as vital to success: setting standards and implementing best practices to achieve an effective, and efficient, compliance program. Many companies struggled to work through limited SOX implementation guidance, with varying degrees of success. […]

In a sure sign that shareholder “say on pay” proposals and other executive compensation issues will again be the big battlegrounds for the 2008 proxy season, the proxy advisory unit of RiskMetrics has updated several of its compensation-related policies—and, notably, adopted a set of five principles to explain when the influential firm will recommend “no” […]

Any time now, we are expecting both the Financial Accounting Standards Board and its global counterpart, the International Accounting Standards Board, to issue final standards on accounting for business combinations and non-controlling interests. These standards are the culmination of a joint project between FASB and IASB, and staffs of both boards have participated on the […]

Fresh from giving foreign companies the choice of filing financial statements according to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or International Financial Reporting Standards, the Securities and Exchange Commission is now trying to figure out how to do the same for domestic businesses. The question ultimately seems to be when, not if, U.S. companies will be […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission will meet this week to vote on amendments to its rules for shareholder access to the proxy, in what is sure to be one of the most highly charged meetings of the year. The SEC quietly announced last week that it will hold a meeting Nov. 28 to consider whether […]

In December 2005, while I was acting chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and I both spoke about reducing the complexity of financial reporting. We weren’t the first to mention this, and we weren’t the last, as the topic has been continually discussed in the two years since. In […]

Non-accelerated filers and other small companies have received an early Christmas gift of relaxed rules for capital-raising and reporting requirements from the Securities and Exchange Commission, part of a concerted effort to make raising capital simpler and cheaper for the little guy. Approved Nov. 15, the three amended rules are part of a package of […]

As widely expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission has abolished a long-standing requirement that overseas companies listed on U.S. exchanges reconcile their financial statements to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles—a crucial step toward adopting a single, globally accepted set of accounting rules. The Commission voted last week to end its reconciliation requirement for foreign issuers […]

The head of an advisory committee charged with finding ways to simplify and improve financial reporting says the panel will issue interim recommendations at its next meeting in January, including its views on XBRL. Robert Pozen, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s financial reporting advisory committee, says his group wants to express its views […]

In the year-long parade of plans and proposals for how to ensure the United States retains its competitive edge in the global marketplace, the nation’s leading financial institutions are calling for an overhaul in the regulatory regime. The Financial Services Roundtable—a think tank with 100 members representing America’s banking, insurance, and investment sector—says America can […]