Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), under their joint Leases Project, propose to substantially revise the existing rules for lease accounting.

In late September 2013, California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) and the government of Quebec signed an agreement to harmonize and integrate their cap-and-trade programs for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. California’s GHG programs under AB 32 will be officially linked with Quebec’s programs beginning January 1, 2014.

In the wake of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation, Knight Capital Americas LLC has agreed to pay a $12 million penalty for violating the SEC’s market access rule. On August 1, 2012, Knight Capital’s automated equity router incorrectly sent 4 million orders into the market in the first 45 minutes of trading while attempting to fill a mere 212 customer orders. Stock prices of nearly 150 companies listed on the NYSE were severely disrupted, and Knight Capital’s stock price collapsed. SEC sleuthing revealed that the glitch was the result of deploying new code in an old, compromised router.

Workers throughout the United States and Canada are protected by occupational health and safety laws, administered by federal, and state or provincial worker safety agencies—such as the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia (WorkSafeBC). Most of these agencies recognize workplace violence as a potential hazard, although regulatory requirements associated with this hazard vary considerably among jurisdictions. Effective November 1, 2013, British Columbia supplements its longstanding workplace violence prevention requirements with requirements for "all reasonable steps to prevent where possible, or otherwise minimize, workplace bullying and harassment." BC provides separate, complementary rules for:

Do you know about these changes? Do you know their effective dates? Is your company ready to comply with each and every change? If your answer to any of these is “no”, or you have no idea what this alert is about, you’ll want to see the Federal Register notice that announced and described these changes. A copy can be found here.

It’s common knowledge now that lead is a systemic poison. Overexposure to it can damage our blood-forming, nervous, urinary and reproductive systems. In the past, lead was commonly added to industrial paints because of its characteristic corrosion resistance and color enhancement. Lead Poisoning Prevention Week takes place from October 20–26. Sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this year’s event focuses on protecting children from exposure to lead. EPA and partner agencies such as HUD are helping raise awareness among parents of ways to combat lead poisoning, from monitoring children’s consumption of certain types of imported candy to screening those most liable to be exposed to lead in the home.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates thousands of chemicals, through a variety of regulatory standards.  At the broadest level, employers must evaluate basic information about every potentially hazardous chemical, and provide information to employees in compliance with OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard.  OSHA also provides somewhat-more-tailored requirements for classes of chemicals (such as flammables), and for types of activities that pose chemical hazards (such as welding).  For a small number of especially hazardous chemicals, OSHA provides a detailed standard applicable to a single chemical—examples include asbestos, benzene, and lead.  On September 12, 2013, OSHA published a proposal to establish just such a single chemical standard, for crystalline silica (29 CFR section 1910.1053).

Recently, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a new series of notices concerning hazardous materials handling and driver recordkeeping procedures. CMV drivers and transporters of hazardous materials should be alert to the following:

On September 20, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) re-proposed regulations to regulate carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from electricity generating units fueled by coal and natural gas.  This proposal marks the latest of many ongoing steps by the Obama Administration to limit emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) even though Congressional deadlock means there will be no legislative initiatives until after the 2014 elections at the earliest.  This proposal applies—critics say stretches—EPA's Clean Air Act (CAA) authority.