Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) was created by the U.S. Congress as a result of passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Some believe that the PCAOB has been sleeping, because its recent activity has not been very visible. But as discussed below, the board is addressing many complex and sometimes highly controversial changes to the auditing profession.

A picture may be worth a thousand words. But words – or lack thereof – can be worth millions. Never more so than when courts are deciding the level of coverage and the amount of payout policyholders are entitled to from insurance companies. So, when it comes to understanding insurance law you need to make sure you understand rule number one: words rule.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) establishes national standards that employers must meet in order to protect workers. Employers who fail to meet OSHA audit and compliance requirements are subject to enforcement actions by OSHA or delegated state agencies. Employers who perform the worst can be subject to OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), established in 2010 as the latest in a series of enhanced enforcement programs for those employers that OSHA considers the most dangerous and/or recalcitrant. SVEP has always offered the possibility that an employer can demonstrate its rehabilitation and exit the program, and just last month OSHA finally published clear guidelines for doing so.

This month the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published new environmental compliance rules (Rule 13q-1 and associated Form SD), requiring annual disclosures by publicly listed “resource extraction issuers” of payments they make to the U.S. federal government, or foreign governments, related to commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals. SEC’s rules implement a Congressional mandate contained in 2010’s massive Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank).

It has been more than two years since the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued their joint proposal on lease accounting. In fact, the proposal was issued on August 17, 2010, and the boards were seeking comments on their proposal by December 15 of that year.

Environmental compliance can be a complex business.  In fact, in certain situations, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and other legislation, may actually deter use of innovative waste management technologies and best practices. Here are three questions to ask about your organization:

I find that, because I run my own practice, I spend a lot of time networking, meeting people and learning. One of the “hot topics” of conversation I often encounter is “branding”, and how everyone wants to establish, and use, their new brands consistently on social media and in other avenues.

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).