Block.

May 05, 2006 | Corporate Counsel

For the first time since his appointment as the markets' top regulator, Christopher Cox testified before his former congressional colleagues on his initiatives at the SEC. Cox reiterated that the SEC's mission is to protect investors, promote capital formation, and maintain orderly markets but it "must always put ordinary Americans first." Cox announced separately that the SEC will reduce by $1 billion the fees it levies on securities transactions, a move that will be a boon to ordinary investors.

By Donna Block

4 minute read

September 20, 2004 | Law.com

President Bush is being drawn into a heated, and politically sensitive, battle over corporate accounting of employee stock options. Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Anna Eshoo wrote the president on Wednesday asking him to intervene on behalf of technology companies that want to derail a plan by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to require companies to count employee stock options as an expense.

By Donna Block

3 minute read

February 13, 2007 | Corporate Counsel

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox is crediting the incorporation of interactive data into SEC filings for the discovery of "a pandemic of crooked accounting" linked to stock option backdating. Cox said the Internet programming language XBRL is helping his staff root out fraud by tagging financial data. The chairman even compared his team of enforcers to the characters in the hit TV show "Heroes," saying his enforcement staff is a group of otherwise ordinary people with extraordinary talent and dedication.

By Donna Block and Ron Orol

6 minute read

June 11, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Kenneth M. Block, a partner in Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt and general counsel of the New York chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, writes that the LEED certification process is as heavily marked by sustainable construction practices as it is by sustainable design. Those construction practices are found in the specifications, and strict compliance is essential to achieve the desired LEED certification.

By Kenneth M. Block

8 minute read

November 12, 2004 | Law.com

Objecting to government investment in private business and to helping cover losses from the tech bubble collapse, the White House is expected this year to try to end the Small Business Investment Company program, a decades-old federal initiative to bolster venture capital funding for new businesses. Advocates of saving the SBIC program credit it with creating new jobs and economic growth. How the fight plays out could have a major impact on venture capitalists and startups.

By Donna Block

7 minute read

June 22, 2005 | Law.com

Two recent reports claim that the burden of complying with the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act grew still heavier in the past year, especially for smaller companies. Foley & Lardner's report on its third annual SOX compliance survey said the annual "cost of being public" since SOX was enacted had increased an average of 233 percent by last year for smaller companies. A second report, by the Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., also suggests the burden of SOX compliance falls more heavily on smaller companies.

By Donna Block

6 minute read

July 29, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Kenneth M. Block and John-Patrick Curran, members of Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt, write that the law of mechanic's liens as it applies to condominiums presents unique issues that can result in problems for contractors, as well as condominium unit owners and boards of managers. Contractors not familiar with the rules, they warn, can find themselves without security for the payment of work they have performed on the condominium property.

By Kenneth M. Block and John-Patrick Curran

16 minute read

February 03, 2006 | Law.com

Only two days after Exxon Mobil reported the highest annual earnings of any company in U.S. history -- $36.1 billion -- prominent lawmakers are asking whether it's time to break up oil conglomerates formed through mega-mergers in the past several years. Congressional leaders are questioning, loudly, whether the rush of industry mergers in the last few years is as much a culprit as rising global demand, conflict in the Middle East and Hurricane Katrina-related damage to U.S. refining capacity.

By Donna Block

5 minute read

May 19, 2005 | New York Law Journal

Regulators from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued guidance this week meant to ease compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the part that has prompted the lion's share of complaints about the law.

By Donna BlockThe Deal

4 minute read

June 26, 2007 | Corporate Counsel

Three months ago, DaimlerChrysler AG prepared its books with a new accounting methodology. The German auto giant was the first company to comply with a European Union mandate requiring EU-based firms listed on U.S. exchanges to report results under a framework created to eliminate country-by-country differences in reporting standards. The carmaker used the International Financial Reporting Standards, which the International Accounting Standards Boards developed.

By Donna Block

8 minute read