TheCorporateCounsel.net

January 22, 2007

PCAOB Inspections: Failing Grades for E&Y, KPMG

A few weeks back, the PCAOB finally released its inspection reports for the two remaining auditors of the Big 4: E&Y and KPMG. As aptly covered in this CFO.com article, the reports reveal a number of issues at those firms.

Given that all four auditors did not receive rave reviews by the PCAOB during last year’s round of inspection reports, I’m not sure why the SEC’s Chief Accountant is supportive of giving auditors immunity for liability. Maybe setting the standard for negligence higher (or whatever the proper standard is for liability) is a better legislative/regulatory response?

By the way, Kevin LeCroix of the “D&O Diary” Blog provides us with the latest developments about auditor liability reform in Europe.

The SEC’s December Rule Changes: How They Impact You

We have posted the transcript from the popular CompensationStandards.com webcast: “The SEC’s December Rule Changes: How They Impact You.” Over 1300 members have listened to that webcast (either live or by audio archive) – and over 1400 caught last Thursday’s webcast: “The Latest Developments: Your Upcoming Proxy Disclosures—What You Need to Do Now!” (for which there will be no transcript due to its length of over 3 hours, but the audio archive is available now).

We just announced Part III of our CompensationStandards.com Web Conference to be held February 15th: “The SEC’s 8-K Rule Changes: How They Impact You.”

Executive Compensation Disclosure FAQs and More…

On CompensationStandards.com, we continue to post numerous resources daily, including these recent gems:

– Posted in our “The SEC’s New Rules” Practice Area, Cleary Gottlieb has put together 52 FAQs regarding the new rules (helping us out until the SEC Staff’s FAQs come out sometime during the next week or two).

– Posted in our “Backdated Options/Grant Policies” Practice Area, we have added a few more sample grant option policies – in Word! Also check out this upcoming NASPP webcast: “Implementing Scrutiny-Proof Grant Procedures.”

– Posted in our “Tabular Disclosures” Practice Area, Alan Kailer has updated his popular outline on the executive compensation tables for the SEC’s December rule changes.

[And as a Chicago native in my youth, a hearty “shout out” to da Bears!]