All Securities and Exchange Commission articles – Page 72
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Blog
SEC Charges BDO USA, Partners for Misleading Audit Opinions
The SEC has charged audit firm BDO USA with issuing false and misleading unqualified audit opinions about the financial statements of staffing services company General Employment Enterprises. BDO agreed to admit wrongdoing, pay disgorgement of its audit fees and interest totaling approximately $600,000, and pay a $1.5 million penalty. Details ...
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Blog
SEC’s Gallagher Plans Oct. 2 Departure
Image: Title: GallagherDaniel Gallagher will step down from the SEC on Oct. 2, putting renewed pressure on the Obama Administration to send a nominee to the Senate for confirmation. Still undecided as well is who the White House will nominate to replace Commissioner Luis Aguilar. Early trial balloons for a ...
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Blog
Court Gives SEC Deadline to Act on Extractive Payments Rule
A federal district court has ordered the SEC to get moving with its long-delayed requirement to adopt a rule for oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments. Ruling on a lawsuit brought against the SEC by Oxfam America, the judge concluded that the SEC “unlawfully ...
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Blog
Candidates Hit SEC Over Revolving Door, Political Spending
The SEC found itself in the crosshairs of two 2016 presidential candidates this week. On Monday, Hillary Clinton co-authored a Huffington Post article supporting a bill intended to curb the “revolving door,” a career path where financial industry personnel join regulatory agencies and later return to the industry. Clinton’s ...
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Blog
Blockbuster Mergers Prompt 'Tweet' Disclosures
“Safe, not sorry” is the approach companies currently involved in multi-billion dollar mergers are taking to their disclosures of social media communications to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Insurance giants Aetna and Humana, in the midst of a $37 billion deal, and Charter Communications(merging with Time Warner Cable), have disclosed ...
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Blog
Aguilar: SEC Should Consider Conditional Waivers, Online Database
Image: SEC Commissioner Luis Aguilar wants the agency to bring more clarity to its process for issuing waivers to companies sanctioned for misconduct, including a new “conditional waiver” process and an online database to shed more light on who asks for waivers and how often they are granted or declined. ...
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Blog
For Third Consecutive Year, SEC Reduces Filing Fees
For the third year in a row, the Securities and Exchange Commission will reduce the filing fees public companies and other issuers pay to register their securities. In fiscal year 2016 fees will be set at $100.70 per million dollars, a drop from the current filing fee for registration statements ...
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Blog
Trade Group Pushes Guidelines for CCO Enforcement Actions
Image: The National Society of Compliance Professionals has written to Andrew Ceresney, director of enforcement at the SEC, urging that compliance officers not be subject to enforcement actions except in cases where a CCO exhibited reckless conduct or knowingly assisted the primary violator. The letter is the latest salvo ...
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Blog
FinCEN Proposes AML Regulations for Investment Advisers
The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is proposing a rule that would require investment advisers to establish anti-money laundering programs, file Currency Transaction Reports, and report suspicious activity. While the Bank Secrecy Act does not expressly include “investment adviser” among its list of entities defined as a financial institution, ...
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Blog
Court Upholds SEC's 'Pay to Play' Rule
The SEC’s 2010 “pay to play” rule , which places limitations on investment advisers whose political contributions could lead to government work, has survived an attempt by Republican groups to brand the requirements as unconstitutional. A recent court decision set aside First Amendment issues and focused on how the ...
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Blog
Appellate Court Dings Conflict Minerals Rule Again
Image: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has upheld an earlier ruling that prohibited the SEC from requiring companies to report publicly whether certain minerals used in their products are conflict free or could support militias in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Citing free speech ...
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Blog
SEC Alleges Accounting Fraud at Miller Energy Resources
The Securities and Exchange Commission is alleging that the former chief financial officer and current chief operating officer of Miller Energy Resources, an oil and natural gas production company, inflated values of oil and gas properties, resulting in fraudulent financial reports for the Tennessee-based company. The audit team leader ...
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Blog
SEC Sets Swap Dealer Registrations, 'Bad Actor' Waiver Battle Looms
The easy part: adopting new rules and a process for the registration of security-based swap dealers and major security-based swap participants. More controversial, is a new proposal, announced by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, to give swap dealers the ability to do business with individuals and firms convicted ...
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Blog
SEC Adopts Divisive Pay Ratio Rule
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s pay ratio rule is now final, approved by a 3-2 vote on Wednesday. The rule requires a comparison of CEO pay to the compensation of the median employee. Concessions to corporate concerns include the ability to exclude up to 5 percent of non-U.S. employees when ...
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Blog
SEC Confirms Expansive View on Whistleblower Protections
The SEC has published fresh guidance on who qualifies for whistleblower protections under the Dodd-Frank Act, essentially confirming the view that a person is not required to report misconduct to the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower to qualify for the expanded anti-retaliation protections under the law. Compliance officers should welcome ...
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Article
Small-Company Rules Inch Forward
Congress (and SEC commissioners) routinely complains that the SEC is so focused on churning out overdue rules for compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act, it has neglected to churn out overdue rules on capital formation required under the JOBS Act. In truth, the SEC is likely to move forward with what ...
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GAO: Dodd-Frank Plan for Ratings Agency Overseer is 'Premature'
A new government report says creation of an oversight body for credit rating agencies is “premature” right now, and that Washington should wait to see how rules the SEC adopted in June for agencies might change their behavior. Tighter oversight of credit rating agencies was one call from the Dodd-Frank ...
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Bill to Require SEC Disclosures on Human Trafficking
U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Chris Smith (D-N.J.) have introduced the Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act of 2015. The bill would require large public companies to disclose measures to prevent human trafficking, slavery, and child labor in their supply chains as part of annual ...
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Blog
SEC Sets Aug. 5 Date for Considering Final Pay Ratio Rule
The wait is over. On Aug. 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission will consider whether to adopt a rule requiring public companies to disclose the ratio of the annual total compensation of the chief executive officer to the median of the annual total compensation of the company’s employees. The proposed ...
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Blog
Mead Johnson Nutrition Pays $12M for FCPA Violations in China
Mead Johnson Nutrition will pay $12.03 million to settle civil charges that it violated books and records requirements of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when a China-based unit made improper payments at state-owned hospitals. The settlement, the result of an administrative proceeding, was detailed in an Offer of Settlement the ...