Dow Chemical has agreed to pay $1.75 million to settle charges that it failed to properly disclose around $3 million in perks for former CEO Andrew Liveris in its proxy statements. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Dow applied an incorrect standard in deciding not to disclose perks including personal Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted last week to expand the definition for companies to qualify for the “smaller reporting company” (SRC) status, thereby increasing the number of companies that don’t need to meet the stiffer disclosure rules required of larger companies. The new smaller reporting company definition enables a Read More
A report by the British parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee, published yesterday (June 4), calls for mandatory public reporting by large companies and asset managers, particularly pension funds, on their exposure to climate change by 2022. Right now, there are no such requirements. The closest thing is the reporting guidelines established Read More
Paint maker PPG Industries has fired its controller and reassigned employees after it found accounting errors mounting into the millions of dollars and said its investigation into alleged violations of its accounting policies continues. PPG said that errors pertained to the first quarter and would result in a $7.8 million Read More
A U.S. jury on Monday convicted the former chief financial officer of British software company Autonomy of wire fraud and other crimes related to claims by the government that he inflated the firm’s value before its planned sale to Hewlett Packard, a Justice Department spokesman said. Federal prosecutors brought criminal Read More
Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis are urging the shareholders of General Electric Co. to vote against keeping accounting firm KPMG. There are “concerns about GE’s previously-undisclosed liabilities and accounting practices,” noted ISS in a report on the subject. KPMG has served as GE’s auditor for 109 Read More
Last week, Canada-based gold mining company, Kinross Gold, settled a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case with the Securities and Exchange Commission by agreeing to pay just shy of $1 million. While the SEC did not pursue the case on evidence of actual bribery, it did hit Kinross with charges of Read More
The Center for Audit Quality is offering some guidance to audit committees on how to ensure that senior management is ready to adopt the new lease accounting standards that take effect at the start of next year. Preparing for the Leases Accounting Standard: A Tool for Audit Committees is designed Read More
After the collapse in January of U.K. construction company, Carillion, one U.K . internal audit leader is calling on members of the internal audit profession to do some soul searching, reflect on the primary role of internal audit, and spend more time considering “big picture” issues. Others are criticizing the Read More
