Filed in archive executive pay
by leon on October 17, 2006
So Apple was held up last week as a model of crisis management, with some even claiming Steve Jobs' statement on its problems with options, and the resignation of Jobs' adviser Fred Anderson,...
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The fallout from the Hewlett-Packard pretexting spying scandal continues to grow.Blame it on a dysfunctional board that made it a disaster waiting to happen. Blame it on the toxic relationships in...
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Filed in archive risk
by leon on October 16, 2006
I never cease to be amazed by the way managers, executives and employees lower down the food chain routinely avoid confronting the crunch issues and problems.In the case of corporate cot-cases like...
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Filed in archive SOX
by leon on October 16, 2006
December is shaping up as a big month for SOX watchers.Treasury secretary Hank Paulson has put together a posse, as described by the New York Post, targeting Sarbanes-Oxley with the outfit including...
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Filed in archive risk
by leon on October 15, 2006
With the troubled hedge fund Amaranth now cutting 60 per cent of its workforce after blowing $6 billion on bad bets in the natural gas market, the pressure is mounting for hedge funds to come under...
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Filed in archive corporate crime
by leon on October 14, 2006
Conrad Black, self-proclaimed freedom fighter, was in fine form the other night when he made an appearance at the Empire Club of Canada in downtown Toronto.Black, who is now trying to get his...
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Filed in archive executive pay
by leon on October 13, 2006
Excellent piece in The Wall Street Journal about why attempts to control CEO pay amount to a losing battle.The piece by Joann Lublin and Scott Thurm should be studied carefully. It gives a history of...
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Filed in archive Ethics
by leon on October 13, 2006
This week, I had a chat with Lord Michael hastings, the former journalist turned activist who works as KPMG's international director of corporate citizenship, when he is not sitting in the House...
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Filed in archive Compliance
by leon on October 12, 2006
Back in August, I did a blog entry on the court decision to set aside the conviction of contractor Custer Battles, the first corporate fraud case to emerge from mess that's Iraq.At the time, I...
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Lies, damned lies and surveys.public relations outfit Weber Shandwick came out this week suggesting that chief executives are now more secure in their jobs.There was a 16 per cent decline in CEO...
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Filed in archive Ethics
by leon on October 11, 2006
Warren Buffett has told his managers to step up their efforts to stop unethical practices, according to the latest news reports.In his memorandum, written the week before Hewlett-Packard chairwoman...
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Filed in archive Accounting
by leon on October 11, 2006
Once dismissed as fuzzy and meaningless work from greenies, sustainability reporting seems to be gaining some traction in boardrooms with the release of the latest Global Reporting Initiative.The new...
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Filed in archive risk
by leon on October 11, 2006
Earlier this year, I did an entry on where the next Enron was going to come from. Hedge funds, options trickery and Fannie Mae-style accounting shenanigans were put up as possible danger...
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Filed in archive Accounting
by leon on October 09, 2006
The push by the big accounting firms to get more protection from damages claims has gained momentum with a study from London Economics. The study's perspective is for the European market but in a...
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Filed in archive SOX
by leon on October 09, 2006
Jack Ciesielski at the AAO Weblog has a good post updating us on a speech by public company Accounting Oversight Board member Charlie Niemeier that seeks to dispel notions that the costs of...
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Filed in archive risk
by leon on October 07, 2006
Murphy's law is alive and well.Australian telco Telstra's strategy briefing, ahead of its partial privatisation by the Australian Government, got off to a bad start when the emergency...
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Filed in archive Ethics
by leon on October 06, 2006
Proclaiming her innocence, ousted Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn has expanded on the second line to her defence.The first track to her defence is ignorance of the law.Now in an interview on...
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Filed in archive Accounting
by leon on October 06, 2006
In the past, I have written a piece about China being the land of the missing accountants.The country is sorely lacking beancounters following the Cultural Revolution when professionals were...
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Filed in archive Accounting
by leon on October 05, 2006
Sam Antar, former chief financial officer of the now-defunct electronics chain Crazy Eddie's, orchestrated a monstrous accounting fraud in the late 1980s and went on to serve as the...
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Two significant developments, two significant companies. And initially, it looks like a study in contrasts.California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has charged ousted Hewlett-Packard chairwoman...
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Filed in archive risk
by leon on October 04, 2006
Climate change and global warming are shaping up as massive security risks for nations and business.A research paper from the Lowy Institute in Australia warns that it will destablise the...
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