Audit, Compliance and Risk Blog

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) administers a broad range of consumer protection statutes, primarily by issuing “guidelines” for organizations to follow when they design products, packages and advertising materials. Generally these guidelines are not directly enforceable, but FTC uses them as the basis for deciding whether a particular activity is lawful. FTC provides organizations that conform to the guidelines with a “safe harbor” against prosecution for violation of one of its statutes, and focuses enforcement on businesses that fail to conform.

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.

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.

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!

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 a person fires bullets at a car and unintentionally kills someone seated inside, does that constitute an 'occurrence’ for the purpose of insurance coverage? One Mississippi case follows the thread of that question. This year an appeals court was asked to determine whether a shooting that caused the “accidental death” of a person is an “occurrence” as defined in a home insurance policy, and/or whether an illegal act exclusion should apply. Here is a brief summary of the case.

Situations can arise whereby an insurance policy holder is accused of abuse. But policies that stipulate there is no insurance coverage for abuse can still be subject to challenges—and where a child is involved, the stakes are high. The following case was heard in the Wisconsin appeals court that tested the clarity of the abuse exclusion in a home insurance policy.

For the foreseeable future, the accounting standard setter in the United States, also known as the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), will continue to set generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for private companies. The trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the oversight body of the FASB, recently rejected the concept of establishing a separate accounting board that would prescribe GAAP for private companies, sometimes termed “baby GAAP.” They concluded that the FASB should continue to set GAAP for all companies that report financial results in the United States.