One of the biggest problems that audit committees face is that their jurisdiction has steadily grown over the years such that they are now covering too many different areas and have an unsightly workload. What to do? The logical answer is to move oversight over some of the areas for which the audit committee doesn’t have to be involved to another board committee. Here are …
Another Dozen Things In-House Practitioners Are Saying About Using AI
Given that AI is top of mind for so many of us right now, I’ve started polling our in-house friends about how they’re using AI in their practice (here’s my first blog with in-house anecdotes). As one might expect, the perspectives and views are varied:
Can Companies Deliver Two Different Versions of a Proxy to Shareholders?
With e-delivery in the news – specifically the SEC’s proposed Regulation E-Delivery – I’ve been reminiscing about the days in the mid-’90s when I worked in Corp Fin’s Office of Chief Counsel and I used to provide guidance to folks about how to read the SEC’s 1995 and 1996 interpretive releases when it came to applying the federal securities laws to activities on the Internet. …
A Dozen Things Those In-House Are Saying About Using AI
Given that AI is top of mind for so many of us right now, I’ve started polling our in-house friends about how they’re using AI in their practice. As one might expect, the perspectives and views are varied:
Summer Doldrums – or Time to Think About Executive Comp Programs?
Here’s an excerpt from this Cooley Alert penned by Ali Murata and Michael Bergmann: “And so, what does that type of summer reading list look like? The most logical first step probably is to look at your compensation committee meeting checklist and identify those items that would benefit from a head start, even (and perhaps especially) those items that are not fully ripe for some …
“Whys” and “Hows” of Annual Shareholder Meetings
Here’s a 34-minute podcast that Liz Dunshee taped with Michael Mencher and Vince Flynn about how newly public companies are navigating annual meetings of shareholders…
Top 10 Things Audit Committee Chairs Want
A useful regular publication from the PCAOB is its report about conversations with audit committee chairs – here’s the most recent report. The report has a load of anecdotes that are worthy of noting – I took the liberty of creating my top 10 list from it: 1. No surprises – ever: Audit chairs appreciate frequent, transparent communication. If something could be awkward later, bring …
Board Effectiveness Requires Shared Accountability With Management
The annual PwC “Board Effectiveness” report repeatedly concludes that stronger governance requires action from both boards and management. Boards must improve agility, oversight practices and use emerging tools like AI, while management must provide clearer information, earlier engagement and be a more transparent communicator. Here are seven things from the report to note: 1. Board Effectiveness Is Improving – But Not Universally: Executive confidence in …
Four Practical Sustainability Communication Lessons for Multinational Companies
Here’s a bunch of wisdom from Cooley’s Beth Sasfai: “Many multinational public companies are grappling with a common challenge: how to satisfy multiple audiences simultaneously. Companies today face scrutiny from EU regulators, U.S. regulators, state attorneys general, consumer protection authorities, investors, NGOs, customers, employees and suppliers. The key is not developing separate narratives for each stakeholder group. Instead, companies should focus on building a single, …
How You Can Use AI to Help Your Proxy Drafting Process: Six Things
Recently, I blogged about how you should remain vigilant when using AI to help draft disclosure – and I parsed an example to scare you into not over relying on AI. In that example, AI drafted something that was strictly boilerplate. It doesn’t know your company’s facts and it can be tone deaf. It can overgeneralize, be inconsistent and miss material facts. And it doesn’t …