December 1st Deadline to Adopt Executive Compensation Clawback Policies — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Quality Of Earnings: Making The Most Of M&A Transactions
Podcast: ESMA Report: Undue Pressure on Companies
Podcast: Private Funds Update: The UK Stewardship Code 2020
Innovation in Compliance Episode 12: How ESG Factors will Change Compliance with J.R. Lowry
New Revenue Recognition Standard-Part V, What does it all mean?
Everything Compliance-Episode 12
FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 145-SEC Enforcement of the FCPA, Part II
The updates include a report from the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on review of issuers’ annual reports, a summary of private reprimands, and disciplinary actions....more
On March 6, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final rules that will require expansive new climate-related disclosures in Form 10-K and Form 20-F annual reports and most registration statements....more
Taking stock, looking ahead - The start of a new year is an important opportunity for boards to take a step back and reassess their agendas to help ensure that they are appropriately focused on the most critical issues for...more
The annual Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) review of Issuers’ Annual Reports (Review) for 2022 found that deficiencies in internal controls remained a common underlying reason for modification of audit opinion by auditors and...more
On 22 January 2024, the FRC published a revised edition of the UK Corporate Governance Code (the Code). This follows on from the consultation on several important changes to the Code that it launched in May 2023 (see our...more
Today saw the publication by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) of its revised corporate governance code (the Code). Whilst the updated Code contains a limited set of targeted changes, as opposed to a broader wholesale...more
What are internal controls? The best definition I have come across is from Jonathan Marks, partner at BDO, who defined internal controls as: An internal control is an action or process of interlocking activities designed to...more
For years, regulators have emphasized that the starting point for maintaining an effective compliance program is understanding the particular risks the company faces. According to Munter, this same concept applies to...more
In this Order, the SEC brought settled charges against Plug Power, Inc., a provider of green hydrogen and hydrogen-fuel-cell solutions, for financial reporting, accounting and controls failures in connection with a variety of...more
In New England Carpenters Guaranteed Annuity and Pension Funds v. DeCarlo (Aug. 2023), the Second Circuit held, among other things, that CEO/CFO certifications mandated by SOX Section 302 constitute non-actionable statements...more
On 24 May 2023, the Financial Reporting Council ("FRC") launched a consultation on proposed revisions to the current (2018) edition UK's Corporate Governance Code (the "Consultation" and the "Code"). This follows on from the...more
Taking the Layered Approach - There’s a maxim in forensic accounting that investigations take twice as long as anticipated, yet the final report appears to have taken half the time. There are progressive layers in a...more
We are experiencing a period of financial turmoil not seen for decades. At the risk of stating the obvious, the intense damage inflicted on government coffers by responding to a pandemic, coupled with the fallout from the...more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has adopted amendments and updated disclosure requirements that are to be included in a reporting company’s annual report on Form 10-K or 20-F. The SEC has also proposed...more
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s bread-and-butter enforcement actions focus on accounting fraud. The SEC has a long history in uncovering fraudulent financial reporting schemes. In the early 2000s, Wall Street was...more
Fenwick corporate partner Ran Ben-Tzur recently led a small group discussion, “How can GCs identify, prepare for, and respond to pitfalls on the road to IPO?” at TechGC’s IPO Conference held in San Francisco. Below are some...more
The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently released its draft Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2022 to 2026 for public comment. The Strategic Plan sets forth the following three key goals for the Securities and...more
On 18 March 2021, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy launched a consultation on its proposals for wide-ranging reforms to modernise the UK’s audit and corporate governance regime. The reforms proposed...more
One of the hottest going-public trends in 2020 and 2021 has been the rise of SPACs - Special Purpose Acquisition Companies - as a vehicle for private companies to go public. SPACs are shell companies that are formed, funded...more
The second half of 2020 saw U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") enforcement activity continue to rebound from deep uncertainty and change caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. All told, the SEC—despite a full-scale...more
The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) hosted the 2020 AICPA Conference on Current SEC and PCAOB Developments this past week at which a number of SEC accountants participated, either...more
In July 2020, a publicly traded pharmaceutical company entered into a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, without admitting or denying findings, and agreed to pay a financial penalty relating to various...more
On June 23, 2020, the SEC issued new guidance for companies’ disclosure considerations regarding operations, liquidity and capital resources in light of COVID-19. The guidance, which largely reiterates similar themes as the...more
Three years on, the findings of research by FSN Modern Finance Forum, entitled The Future of Financial Reporting Survey 2017, potentially still hold true today. ...more
Kandi Technologies Group, Inc. is a publicly traded Delaware corporation based in China. The Company struggled persistently with its financial reporting and internal controls, encountering particular difficulties with...more