TheCorporateCounsel.net

In this half-hour podcast, Sean McKessy, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower brings us up-to-date on what is happening in his Office, including:

– How do you like the job so far?
– How big is your Staff now?
– What do you consider the Office’s biggest accomplishments so far?
– What has been the biggest surprise so far – either organizationally or otherwise?
– Do you think the push for whistleblowers to report internally first poses a threat to the SEC’s office?
– What about the tension between language in Codes of Conduct, confidentiality agreements, severance agreements, etc. that encourage or requires internal reporting and the SEC’s rule which prohibits any person from taking action to impede an individual’s ability to report information directly to the SEC?

Nasdaq Withdraws Internal Auditor Proposal With Plans to Re-Propose

Recently, Nasdaq withdrew its proposal that would have required listed companies to have an internal auditor – with plans to re-propose the rule after it has considered the comments it has received. I find it odd they would go proposal-withdraw-reproposal rather than just proposal-reproposal – which is what a federal agency would have done – but perhaps it’s because the SROs have to keep their listed companies happy and have that burden to carry. Thus, by withdrawing the proposal now, Nasdaq can take their time to put together a re-proposal while listed companies breathe easy that the original proposal won’t suddenly become law…

More on our “Proxy Season Blog”

We continue to post new items regularly on our “Proxy Season Blog” for TheCorporateCounsel.net members. Members can sign up to get that blog pushed out to them via email whenever there is a new entry by simply inputting their email address on the left side of that blog. Here are some of the latest entries:

– Calls for Proxy Access Whither
– Declassification, Political Spending Again Ubiquitous
– Campaign Mounts for Independent Chairs
– No-Action Letter Challenge to New Version of Retail Proxy Access Proposal
– Western Union Seeks to Exclude Norges Bank Proxy Access Shareholder Proposal
– Survey: Mutual Fund Support for Corporate Political Disclosure

– Broc Romanek