Corporate governance - Vigil

The Conference Board, in collaboration with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., recently released the Key Findings from CEO and Executive Compensation Practices: 2015 Edition, which documents trends and developments on senior management compensation at companies issuing equity securities registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and, as of May 2015, included in the Russell 3000 Index.

In an important development for corporations responding to federal investigations, the Department of Justice announced on September 10, 2015 revisions to its Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organization (“Principles”). The new policies, set out in a memorandum authored by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and sent to federal prosecutors across the nation, instruct prosecutors to focus their efforts to secure evidence against individuals responsible for corporate wrongdoing.

Deloitte & Touche LLP comments on the SEC’s Concept Release, "Possible Revisions to Audit Committee Disclosures," issued on July 1, 2015.

High-frequency trading, dark pools, front-running, phantom orders, short selling—the way securities are traded ranks high among today’s regulatory challenges. Thanks to a steady stream of news reports, investor complaints, and public investigations, it has become commonplace to call for the government to intervene and impose order. The regulation of trading practices, one of the oldest roots of securities law and still a regulatory mystery to many people, is suddenly the talk of the town.

Understanding the formation of firms’ disclosure practices is of significant interest to regulators, managers, and investors. Anecdotal evidence and prior disclosure research generally conclude that firms’ current disclosure practices are often tightly connected to prior disclosure practices.

Call me strange, but one of the things I do in the dog days of summer each year is review recent Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission.