Filed in archive Ethics
by leon on April 17, 2007
How can a sprawling business like GE maintain its integrity, ethical standards and corporate reputation? With a workforce of 316,000 spread across the world and operating businesses in such areas as...
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Filed in archive executive pay
by leon on April 16, 2007
What happens to a company's stock price when the CEO buys a mansion? It heads south, according to a study.Academics from Stern School of Business and the W.P.Carey School of Business based their...
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Filed in archive Accounting
by leon on April 16, 2007
Since Andersen went out of business for obstructing justice, auditors have been pushing hard for liability caps. It's something I have examined here, here, here, here and here.Now a new study...
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Filed in archive Compliance
by leon on April 13, 2007
Poring through charts and documents for compliance purposes can be absolutely mind-numbing. It's a language of its own. So the consultants JuiceAnalytics have come up with new buzzwords for data...
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Filed in archive Ethics
by leon on April 13, 2007
Wal-Mart can't take a trick. The world's biggest retailer seems to lurch from one screw-up to another. Indeed, type "Wal-Mart" and "blunder" into Google and you get...
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More fallout from the Siemens bribery scandal. The heat is on former Siemens chief executive Heinrich von Pierer to step down as chairman, according to the latest news reports.The pressure is coming...
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Filed in archive risk
by leon on April 12, 2007
In the past, I have done a post on regulators like Britain's Financial Services Authority keeping a nervous eye on the buyout boom and I have looked at questions whether private equity will be...
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Filed in archive Ethics
by leon on April 11, 2007
Fascinating to read the arguments zipping back and forth about the proposal from two Internet luminaries, Tim O'Reilly and Jimmy Wales, to establish a code of conduct for bloggers.Now the...
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Filed in archive Compliance
by leon on April 11, 2007
Are annual reports on the way out?The Financial Times reports that HSBC'S annual report has grown to such a massive size that Britain's postal service, the Royal Mail, has had to limit the...
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Filed in archive Accounting
by leon on April 10, 2007
Last month, the US Chamber of Commerce issued its much talked about report on market competitiveness which, among other things, raised the possibility that audit firms would provide better service...
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Filed in archive risk
by leon on April 10, 2007
One of my favourite stories about predicting the future is the one about the noted futurist and business strategist Peter Schwartz. He was to chair a conference in New York. The theme: The Big...
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Filed in archive SOX
by leon on April 09, 2007
Just last month, I did blog entries on former Congressman and SOX co-writer Michael Oxley joining a law firm to help companies get around Sarbanes-Oxley and then joining Nasdaq.Now he's come out...
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Filed in archive Ethics
by leon on April 09, 2007
World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz, who spends a fair bit of his time lecturing Third World countries about the evils of corruption, is caught up in a scandal about his romantic partner getting a...
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Filed in archive SOX
by leon on April 06, 2007
As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission this week moved to finalise guidelines for companies and auditors to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. This is supposed to mark the final stage of easing...
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Filed in archive executive pay
by leon on April 06, 2007
Disturbing revelations from Bloomberg's Graef Crystal on the new pay democracy among the Wall Street Five.His piece on pay being set in smoke-filled rooms goes pretty close to suggesting out and...
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Filed in archive Ethics
by leon on April 05, 2007
Earlier this year, I did a blog entry on the furore surrounding the Blair Government decision to drop the corruption probe into a massive defence deal involving BAE Systems, the world's fourth...
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As expected, most companies in the US are continuing to fill their board rooms with the same sorts of people: white, male and mostly in their 50s. According to a new report, Women on Boards: Missed...
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Filed in archive Compliance
by leon on April 04, 2007
Companies are still struggling to get their heads around important non-financial metrics like reputation risk, global competition, and increased scrutiny from the media and NGOs.A new Deloitte report...
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Filed in archive SOX
by leon on April 04, 2007
Nearly five years after Sarbanes-Oxley was brought in, US regulators are still trying to sort out how much testing accountants will have to do in corporate audits.The Securities and Exchange...
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Filed in archive markets
by leon on April 03, 2007
Private equity firms that take over companies can be bad for jobs, but they can also be good, according to a new report from The Work Foundation.The report, Inside the dark box: shedding light on...
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Filed in archive Accounting
by leon on April 03, 2007
Demand for accountants has never been higher. Indeed, there's a shortage which is driving up beancounter salaries. But there's a problem.How are we going to fix the shortage if there are no...
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