Search results for: "accounting controls"
ComEd Gives a Compliance Update
One of the more colorful compliance stories from 2020 was Commonwealth Edison, the Chicago-based public utility which paid $200 million that year to settle corruption charges. ComEd also agreed to implement a raft of compliance program improvements — and last Friday, ComEd filed its first ethics and compliance report to talk about its progress so…
Read MoreKT Pays $6.3M to End FCPA Case
Compliance professionals have quite the FCPA case to consider this week, courtesy of the Securities and Exchange Commission hitting Korea’s largest telecommunications carrier with $6.3 million in penalties and disgorgement for all manner of corrupt practices in the 2010s. The company, KT Corp., has a long history of corruption. KT agreed to settle the SEC…
Read MorePaper Raises Red Flag on SPACs Governance
A new research paper raises disturbing questions about the corporate governance of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), and just in time, too — because another, separate bit of research finds that so many SPACs are hitting Wall Street these days that they are single-handedly propping up the number of quarterly filings to the SEC. Let’s…
Read MoreMore SEC Talk on Cyber, Internal Control
Before this particular bit of news sails downstream, internal control professionals might want to note that an SEC commissioner spoke this week about the importance of internal controls for cybersecurity. She raised a few points worth considering. The remarks came from Caroline Crenshaw, a Democratic appointee to the Securities and Exchange Commission who, in my…
Read MoreThe Deeper Meaning in the Facebook Scandal
This week I’ve kept one semi-interested eye on Frances Haugen, more commonly known as the Facebook whistleblower. Her bombshells launched — the 60 Minutes interview, the testimony before Congress, the leaked documents — were all devastating to Facebook, but compliance professionals should look deeper. Haugen’s arrival on the scene portends something deeper, too. By now…
Read MoreWPP Pays $19M on FCPA: An Analysis
Advertising giant WPP has agreed to pay $19 million to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had poor internal accounting controls in the 2010s, which led to bribery through third parties in India and several other emerging markets. The SEC announced the settlement on Friday. It consisted of $11 million in…
Read MoreFood for Thought From Kraft Heinz
We have a fascinating enforcement action from the Securities and Exchange Commission to study, this time against Kraft Heinz Co., which is paying $62 million to settle charges that it committed accounting fraud with a bogus cost-savings scheme. The case is a glimpse into how strategic imperatives can pressure internal controls — and at least…
Read MoreDeutsche Bank Control Failures Cost $130M
You may have missed this while watching the coup attempt, but Deutsche Bank settled FCPA charges last week with $130 million in penalties and disgorgement, a three-year deferred-prosecution deal, and lessons a-plenty about the perils of leaving internal control duties with operations executives in the First Line of Defense. The settlement was announced Friday afternoon.…
Read MoreSEC Charges Retailer on Impairment Issue
You don’t see this too often: the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a fashion retailer with failing to impair goodwill in a timely manner, citing weak internal controls over how management determined goodwill and an attempt to mislead the company’s auditors. The company in question is Squential Brands, which sells clothing brands such as…
Read MoreSEC Warning on Insider Stock Sales
Two top officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission warned this week that companies should pay more heed to the policies they use to govern senior executives’ stock sales, to prevent even the appearance of impropriety when an executive is selling shares. The comments came from Bill Hinman, director of the Division of Corporation Finance,…
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