Internal auditors, compliance officers, and other “lines of defense” professionals are in unique positions to spot fraud and wrongdoing at the companies where they work. In most cases it is enough to report the problems to senior management or to the board of directors in situations where senior executives may Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that Moody’s Investors Service Inc., one of the nation’s largest credit ratings agencies, has agreed to pay a total of $16.25 million in penalties to settle charges involving internal control failures and failing to clearly define and consistently apply credit rating symbols. This marks Read More
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
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
Japan-based electronics company Panasonic will pay more than $143 million to settle charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and engaging in accounting fraud involving its global avionics business. It further charged the company of having insufficient internal controls, which has become Read More
Dun & Bradstreet Corp. has agreed to pay more than $9 million to resolve Foreign Corrupt Practices Act charges arising from improper payments made by two Chinese subsidiaries, according to a statement from the Securities and Exchange Commission issued this week. The business data company also announced that it had 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 Securities and Exchange Commission took aim at two compliance officers at a broker-dealer, alleging that they aided and abetted the brokerage’s failure to file reports on suspicious transactions. Aegis Capital Corp. failed to file reports on hundreds of transactions that were potentially related to the market manipulation of low-priced Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced its Largest-ever Dodd-Frank whistleblower awards, with two whistleblowers sharing nearly $50 million award and a third whistleblower receiving more than $33 million. The previous high was $30 million, which the securities regulator awarded in 2014. “These awards demonstrate that whistleblowers can provide the SEC Read More
