Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

Late last month the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules (Rule 13p-1 and associated Form SD), requiring annual disclosures by public companies that manufacture any products in which “conflict minerals” are “necessary to the functionality or production.” These conflict minerals comprise a short list of important metals, when they originate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo or DRC) or an adjoining country. SEC’s rules implement a Congressional mandate contained in 2010’s massive Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank).

The internet is such a special place. It makes life so easy. I know that there are a slew of attorneys who existed before the time of the internet, and on-line legal research, but I am so glad that I did not have to be one of them. I am grateful that I did not have to know that kind of grueling legal practice. This is so much more fun!

On July 6, 2012, President Obama signed into law the “Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21)”.The 584-page legislation revises and adds many sections to the U.S. Code, intending to “create a streamlined, performance-based, and multi-modal program to address the many challenges faced by the US transportation system, including improving safety, maintaining infrastructure condition, reducing traffic congestion, improving efficiency of the system and freight movement, and protecting the environment” (USDOT, Federal Highway Administration).

The liability associated with a company’s defined benefit pension has always been hard to measure and, as a result, controversial. Companies in the private sector in the United States were forced to “bite the bullet” on this issue many years ago—in fact, it was in 1985 when Ronald W. Reagan was president.

If your business generates "hazardous" wastes, then you must manage them in compliance with applicable federal and state environmental laws and regulations. But did you know that the same regulations also require you to take steps to avoid generating such wastes in the first place? Regulations refer to these as "waste minimization" efforts.

On July 27, 2012, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) released Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2012-02, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Topic 350), “Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment.” ASU 2012-02 employs a qualitative concept that is similar to the one developed in ASU 2011-08, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other (Topic 350), “Testing Goodwill for Impairment,” which was issued on September 15, 2011. While the FASB’s issuance of these standards gives companies an option when testing indefinite-lived assets and goodwill for impairment, does it really make impairment testing easier?

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Act provides employers with a "General Duty" to provide their employees with “safe and healthful working conditions, in workplaces free of recognized hazards” which comply with OSHA standards for general industry. 

Electrical Safety OSHA: Principles and Hazard Controls

FREE! Education Webinar from STC | August 23, 2012

In 2010, 164 workers died after contact with electrical current in U.S. private industry.  That amounts to an average of more than 3 deaths per week. In this free education Webinar, our presenter, Barbara Ruble, CPEA, QEP, will discuss the legal requirements related to electrical safety, how to identify electrical hazards, and suggestions for establishing and implementing controls to protect employees, as well as minimize the opportunity for business interruption.

Energy companies have used hydraulic fracturing—often referred to as ‘fracking’—since the 1940s in order to enhance recovery of oil and natural gas from low-permeability (“tight”) rock formations.
Frackers pump high-pressure fluids into rock formations to create and expand cracks and create pathways for valuable hydrocarbons to flow out.  The stimulant fluids are usually water-based, with additional chemicals (acids, surfactants, biocides, etc.) to improve the effectiveness of the fracking process as well as solid ‘proppants’, which prop open the expanded openings (sand, etc.). 

Increasingly, your approach to climate change issues provides an important basis for your customers’ and other stakeholders’ purchasing and investment decisions with your organization. They may research how your organization manages its  greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (your  ‘carbon footprint’) because, if you provide them with goods and services, the GHG emissions associated with your activities may be attributed to them.