We peruse the Internet headlines so you don’t have to. Here are the recent SOX and GRC headlines (and links) we felt are newsworthy:
Former Nasdaq Chair’s Scam has Sector Reeling - The unfolding of the $50 billion pyramid scheme by former Nasdaq Chair Bernard Madoff has both investors and the financial sector reeling. Madoff, who was arrested on a securities fraud charge, is out on bail but could face up to 20 years in prison and a $5 million fine if he is convicted. In the meantime, a wide range of investors has come forward as victims of Madoff’s alleged fraud. HSBC, the Royal Bank of Scotland, France’s BNP Paribas, Spain’s Banco Santander, and Japan’s Nomura are among those that have potential losses.
Siemens AG Face Fines for FCPA Violations - A sweeping probe of Siemens AG’s multinational business practices resulted in $450 million in criminal fines for the company’s violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The FBI, the SEC, and the IRS worked with German authorities to root out over $1.4 billion in bribes to officials around the globe. The U.S. Department of Justice credited Siemens AG’s audit committee for launching an internal FCPA investigation, for cooperating with authorities, for taking disciplinary action against employees at fault, and for implementing a thorough compliance program. In addition to paying criminal fines, Siemens AG will retain an independent compliance monitor for four years.
IBM Data Governance Council Pushes for New XBRL Taxonomy - Against the backdrop of the SEC’s pending vote about whether or not to require publicly traded companies to submit filings in XBRL beginning with the first quarter of 2009, the IBM Data Governance Council is undertaking an initiative to create semantic clarity in disclosing operational, market, and credit risk. Advocates say that new standards for XBRL will enable regulators to more easily compare data and recognize trends, and computers to create business intelligence frameworks.
SEC Under Fire - The SEC is under the microscope amid reports that the agency’s enforcement division dropped the ball in investigating entities ranging from Bear Stearns to Bernard Madoff. Those kinds of misses, when considered alongside budget cuts and alleged insider trading by SEC staff members, don’t bode well for the agency.
Who Will Fill the SEC Slot? - President-elect Barack Obama is rolling out one candidate after another to fill top-level posts in his administration, which begs the question, who will be the next SEC chief? Speculation swirls around former Democratic commissioner at the SEC and Columbia Law School professor Harvey Goldschmid, former SEC commissioner Roel Campos and Gary Gensler, who once worked with Senator Paul Sarbanes, co-author of the SOX Act.
