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corporate crime
by leon on June 1, 2006
It just keeps getting better.Conrad Black, the disgraced peer and Canadian-born media mogul who now faces a multi-million fraud trial in the United States next March, has been named in letters involvi...
Read more of Conrad Black and the cash for peerages affair
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corporate reputation
by leon on May 31, 2006
Oxfam has released a damning report accusing sportswear giants like Nike, Reebok, Puma and adidas of failing to live up to their claims that they are improving the working conditions of suppliers in A...
Read more of Red card for sportswear brands
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SOX
by leon on May 31, 2006
Now that Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling are set to spend the rest of their lives in the slammer, questions are being asked (again) whether it's time to unwind Sarbanes-Oxley. Apparently the system has ...
Read more of Untangling SOX: the post-Enron debate
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executive pay
by leon on May 30, 2006
Interesting piece worth looking at in Fortune this month on the limitations of Section 304 (forfeiture of certain bonuses and profits) of Sarbanes-Oxley.
Read more of Pay clawbacks
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corporate crime
by leon on May 29, 2006
In the new york times over the weekend, Gretchen Morgenson came out with the rhetorical question Are Enrons Bustin' Out All Over.
Read more of Looking for the next Enron
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Ethics
by leon on May 27, 2006
With Citigroup being sued in Australia for insider trading, the corporate regulator has made a veiled attack on the world's biggest investment bank and all the financial giants, claiming they are ...
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corporate crime
by leon on May 26, 2006
That's the Question that's been asked since the jurors brought down the guilty verdict for Lay and Skilling.
Read more of What have we learned from Enron?
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corporate crime
by leon on May 26, 2006
Enron's Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling have been found guilty, in the latest news to hand.
Read more of Newsflash! Enron's Lay, Skilling guilty
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corporate crime
by leon on May 26, 2006
The blogosphere and commentary zone are buzzing with the news how Fannie Mae's Franklin Raines, the now-deposed chairman and chief executive of the home mortgage giant, secured more than $52 milli...
Read more of Fannie Mae's flim-flam flayed
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Ethics
by leon on May 24, 2006
Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer is looking for a global director of ethics and handing over the search to Martha Montag Brown & Associates. Job Description: the person needs to be "...
Read more of Send In The Ethics Cops
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SOX
by leon on May 24, 2006
With Kenneth Starr leading the constitutional challenge to the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the PCAOB has flagged its defence strategy which you can read about here and here.Basically, t...
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Ethics
by leon on May 23, 2006
As if The Da Vinci Code needed more publicity!Opus Dei has put out a press release accusing Sony Corporation of breaching its own code of conduct.The press release, under the headline "Sony's...
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Compliance
by leon on May 22, 2006
Plenty of debate since the USA Today report earlier this month that the national security Agency was using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth to collect phone call records of tens of mil...
Read more of Bugging Business
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corporate crime
by leon on May 22, 2006
With the Enron jury set to return from its weekend break today, it's worth looking at what we have learned from the trial.
Read more of Enron: Long Road Ahead
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corporate reputation
by leon on May 20, 2006
Exxon Mobil has gone on the offensive with a report claiming it spent more than $3 billion last year on expenses related to the environment. It's reputation management by a new CEO in the wake of ...
Read more of Exxon Mobil, climate change and the reputation wars
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regulators
by leon on May 18, 2006
I have one rule of thumb with companies:If I don't understand what they are doing, and they can't or won't explain(Q: So what do you do? A: We leverage our capabilities to provide clients ...
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SOX
by leon on May 18, 2006
As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission has put out an announcement that smaller companies will not be exempted from the Section 404 rule designed to strengthen financial controls.What it ...
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corporate governance
by leon on May 18, 2006
Former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt has given American International Group (AIG) a corporate governance makeover, reports The Wall Street Journal. This came after ex-chief...
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Accounting
by leon on May 17, 2006
Doing business in China sure is no cake-walk.Last month I blogged on the corporate governance issues confronting businesses wanting a piece of the action in China. In addition, more than $900 billion ...
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Ethics
by leon on May 16, 2006
Even the world's biggest funds are at it now. More of them are turning towards socially responsible investment, with investment funds totalling trillions of dollars now endorsing the UN-backed Pri...
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SOX
by leon on May 16, 2006
Plenty of focus on whistleblower Mark Livingston's fight with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, hailed as one of the first cases decided by a federal court under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Livingston claims he ...
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corporate crime
by leon on May 16, 2006
With closing arguments in the Enron trial set to begin today, it's worth looking at the reaction over the last week to the news that Judge Lake dealt Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling a serious blow when ...
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litigation
by leon on May 16, 2006
Sarbanes-Oxley has not only resulted in boom times for accountants.It's also helped create an expert witness industry worth $6 to $8 billion a year. Experts are charging anything from $650,000 for...
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Ethics
by leon on May 14, 2006
Now she tells us!!! Body Shop founder Dame Anita Roddick has called for a consumer boycott of Nestle products, such as Perrier, Kit-Kat and Nescafe. She apparently has deep ethical concerns about Nest...
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SOX
by leon on May 12, 2006
This week's Securities and Exchange Commission-Public Company Accounting Oversight Board roundtable on Sarbanes-Oxley was really shown up for what it really was intended to be.Let's not kid ou...
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corporate governance
by leon on May 12, 2006
If you're looking around for a neat handbook on corporate governance issues and requirements under US securities law, Bowne & Co are offering a free guide to corporate governance issues.As a s...
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SOX
by leon on May 12, 2006
With regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission-Public Company Accounting Oversight Board roundtable telling business that relief from Section 404 is on its way (without giving specifics) an...
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corporate crime
by leon on May 11, 2006
Q: What's the difference between a corporate crook and a juvenile delinquent?A: One is a ruthless rebel who holds the laws and rules of society in absolute contempt and who doesn't give a stuf...
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SOX
by leon on May 10, 2006
The Government Accountability Office report on Sarbanes-Oxley makes interesting reading.For a start, the US Government auditors identify the obvious: that the costs of compliance with Section 404 of t...
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Ethics
by leon on May 10, 2006
Just came across an interesting blog EthicsCrisis.com focusing on global business ethics.Check out the link that allows you to confess ethical breaches, anonymously.Some of the confessions are not so ...
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SOX
by leon on May 9, 2006
The problem with Sarbanes-Oxley is that it's tailor-made for big corporations. Hardly surprising, given that it was framed in response to the collapse and fraud at giant corporations like Enron an...
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boards of directors
by leon on May 8, 2006
What do Bob Geldof and Nick Mason (drummer and percussionist with Pink Floyd) have in common?They are both company directors and part of a trend now to recruit celebrity directors, according to the Su...
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corporate crime
by leon on May 6, 2006
Conrad Black, like his hero Napoleon is facing his Waterloo with the US District Judge Amy St. Eve who will preside over Black's fraud trial next year, indicating she might run criminal background...
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risk
by leon on May 5, 2006
We live in challenging times. Terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid and London, the Asian tsunami, wild hurricanes and cyclones have created a new challenge for organisations. Suddenly, the unthinkabl...
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corporate crime
by leon on May 4, 2006
The defence argument at the Enron trial, which came up with the answer to the so-called Enron corporate murder mystery , was one gamble. Putting
former CEOs Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay in the witness s...
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executive pay
by leon on May 4, 2006
The fallout continues over the generous $400 million payout to former Exxon Mobil chief executive Lee Raymond. I blogged on the issue last month. His successor Rex Tillerson has just put up the usual ...
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SOX
by leon on May 3, 2006
So Sarbanes-Oxley has improved CEO transparency? Think again.CEO candor in letters to shareholders, one gauge of candid and comprehensive disclosure, has declined since Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley, accor...
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Accounting
by leon on May 2, 2006
With the Public Company Accounting Oversight facing a constitutional challenge and the ongoing push to exempt smaller companies from Section 404 requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley, the PCAOB has come out ...
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corporate governance
by leon on May 2, 2006
To paraphrase Tolstoy, all dysfunctional companies are dysfunctional in their own fashion. But after years of writing about them, I have always been struck by the same patterns coming up time and time...
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Ethics
by leon on May 1, 2006
"As officers and Enron Corp, its subsidiaries, and its affiliated companies, we are responsible for conducting the business affairs of the companies in accordance with all applicable laws and in ...
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risk
by leon on May 1, 2006
New age mafia gangs are infiltrating companies, putting their IT systems at serious risk, according to a report presented at a London conference last week.About three months ago I did a report on news...
