The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed changes that would limit the need to adhere to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requirements to obtain audits of their financial controls over financial reporting (SOX 404) to larger public companies. The SEC voted yesterday to propose amendments to the accelerated filer and large Read More
Global package foods company Kraft Heinz announced in a statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that it would restate nearly three years of financial statements after an internal inquiry, led in part by internal audit, found misconduct in the company’s procurement department. The company will restate earnings Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission awarded a total $50 million to two whistleblowers who assisted the agency in bringing a successful enforcement action. One whistleblower received an award of $37 million and the other received an award of $13 million. While the SEC did not disclose the identities of the Read More
Shares of telecom equipment maker Nokia dropped more than 8 percent last Friday after the company revealed that it is investigating potential compliance problems at its Alcatel-Lucent unit, which it acquired in 2016. The Finnish company disclosed the investigation into certain transactions of the unit in its annual report, which Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against four public companies for failing to maintain internal control over financial reporting (ICFR) for several annual reporting periods. Two of the charged companies also failed to complete the required evaluation of the effectiveness of ICFR for two consecutive annual reporting periods. Read More
Hertz Global Holdings has agreed to pay $16 million in fines to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission over accounting errors at the rental car giant that led to financial misstatements. According to the SEC filing, from February 2012 to March 2014 Hertz’s public filings “materially misstated pre-tax Read More
The 2018 fiscal year was an active one for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Whistleblower program. In fact, the agency received more tips and paid out more in rewards than in any year since the SEC Whistleblower Office opened its doors in 2011. In its 2018 annual report to Congress, Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission pursued an increased number of enforcement actions in fiscal year 2018 and fined companies and individuals nearly $4 billion in the same period. The SEC said in its annual report that total enforcement actions totaled 821, up 9 percent from 754 in fiscal 2017. Meanwhile, Read More
Two new separate analyses by research firm Audit Analytics, finds that even as the use of non-GAAP metrics is growing, the topic has dominated SEC enforcement efforts with a high percentage of SEC comment letters referring to potential misuse of non-GAAP metrics.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued an investigative report urging public companies to consider cyber-threats when implementing internal accounting controls.
