Last week, the SEC approved the PCAOB’s new quality control standard – QC 1000 – that establishes a risk-based quality control framework for independent auditors to follow. Here are four bullets about this new PCAOB standard – and the “bottom line” about what you need to do now: Bottom Line: Your audit committee should be made aware of this new standard and that committee might …
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Ten Shareholder Proposal Trends Gleaned From the Latest Proxy Season
Here are 10 bullets you can tell your senior management team and board based on lessons learned about shareholder proposals from this proxy season (hat tip to Proxy Analytics’ Steve Pantina for his help with these):
SEC (Still) Conducting Whistleblower Impediment Sweeps
Yesterday, the SEC announced it had charged seven companies with violating ’34 Act Rule 21F-17(a) by using employment and separation agreements to impede potential whistleblowers from reporting misconduct to the SEC. Here are four bullets about this sweep – and the “bottom line” about what you need to do now: Bottom Line: If you haven’t battle-tested your employment and separation agreements against the SEC’s line …
Should Directors Have Access to What Employees Say About Corporate Culture?
When it comes to managing human capital, many companies not only will hire an independent third party to conduct a “corporate culture” survey about how employees feel about their jobs, but also will give directors unfiltered access to the anonymous responses. When I say “unfiltered,” this means giving each director the entire data dump, which includes all of the anonymous commentary that employees might have …
Tips for Making the Case to Add Head Count to the Corporate Secretary’s Office
This is a tough one. You’re a cost center. You’re not driving revenues. Sure, you’re important. I know that. You know that. But do the bean counters know? Not really. In essence, you must prove a “but for” case. “But for” this department, you wouldn’t have received shareholder approval for this and that. “But for” this department, you might have been sued for misleading disclosure. …
Why I Joined Cooley: Channeling the Voice of the In-House Practitioner
I’ve just joined a deep – and fun-loving – team to develop content harnessing wisdom from the hundreds of in-house counsel that Cooley talks with on a daily basis. Along with my own extensive network of in-house colleagues, our combined forces allow us to bring you The Governance Beat, a site that channels the voice of the in-house practitioner. I’ve been dying to develop this …
What Is ‘The Governance Beat’?
The Governance Beat channels the voice of the in-house practitioner. The practical guidance found here – which blends real-life issues, tips and wisdom shared with us – is crafted with you in mind. How does The Governance Beat do this?