Block

September 14, 2005 | Law.com

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Joseph Kelliher believes his agency is up to the task of new utility merger review duties heaped on by the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which repealed major restrictions on industry acquisitions. Kelliher noted that while the commission needs to complete work on 15 major rules in the next 180 days, FERC is also prepared to help hurricane-ravaged utilities recover costs to repair their power systems, a move that could set a precedent.

By Donna Block

4 minute read

March 23, 2004 | Law.com

The body that sets standards for the accounting industry is primed to do battle with Capitol Hill. Within weeks, the Financial Accounting Standards Board will release proposed rules requiring companies to expense stock options in their financial statements -- and assorted lawmakers are mobilizing to thwart them. Meanwhile, many observers are accusing lawmakers of serving corporate constituents' interests on accounting rules at investors' expense.

By Donna Block

6 minute read

January 20, 2005 | New York Law Journal

The ink is barely dry on new rules governing the treatment of employee stock options and already opponents are preparing to lobby the new Congress with an eye towards derailing them.

By Donna BlockThe Deal

5 minute read

October 01, 2003 | Law.com

If you're involved in a proxy vote, always disclose your conflicts of interest. That reminder comes from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In August the SEC levied a $750,000 fine against Deutsche Asset Management, Inc., for its role in last year's merger between Hewlett-Packard Company and Compaq Computer Corporation. According to the SEC, Deutsche Asset Management voted 17 million of its clients' shares in favor of the deal without revealing that its parent company, Deutsche Bank AG, stood to e

By Donna Block and Jason Hoppin

3 minute read

June 21, 2006 | Law.com

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox on Monday named Federal Reserve Board Governor Mark Olson to head the auditor watchdog board created by Congress in 2002. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, officially a part of the SEC, is the nation's primary regulator of auditors. Among the issues facing the PCAOB is the SEC's rapidly growing investigation of possible stock option abuses at a number of public U.S. companies.

By Donna Block

3 minute read

March 15, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Kenneth M. Block and Jeffrey B. Steiner, members of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner, LLP, write that as recent decisions in New York and around the country make clear, banks and other lenders have almost no duty to inform or warn their borrowers' investors, even when the banks suspect that their borrowers are unscrupulous. Absent actual knowledge of a borrower's fraud coupled with active participation in that fraud, a bank will not be held accountable to third party investors.

By Kenneth M. Block and Jeffrey B. Steiner

9 minute read

May 01, 2006 | Corporate Counsel

A Republican lawmaker from Florida said last week he is drafting legislation to roll back portions of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act because the law is hurting the economy. "New entrepreneurs are no longer considering the United States of America as a friendly place to raise capital," said Rep. Tom Feeney, a member of the House Financial Services Committee. The bill is the latest assault on the 2002 landmark law enacted by Congress after the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

By Donna Block

5 minute read

July 26, 2005 | Law.com

While some Democrats, unions and investor advocates aren't opposing Christopher Cox's nomination as SEC head, they are concerned he may try to roll back rule-making initiatives. Cox is expected to be asked at today's Senate confirmation hearing about issues like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's controversial �404 and the rule requiring firms to count employee stock options as a routine business expense. A lobbying group Monday said Cox's "anti-investor record ... should disqualify him from leading the agency."

By Donna Block

3 minute read

March 08, 2007 | Law.com

Generally accepted accounting principles may play second fiddle to newer International Financial Reporting Standards if the Securities and Exchange Commission gives American companies a choice. The issue surfaced Tuesday during a day-long forum the SEC hosted to discuss its "road map" for the convergence of U.S. and international accounting standards. Many of the panelists said given the choice, using IFRS would be welcomed since the standard is a more principles-based accounting method than GAAP.

By Donna Block

4 minute read

July 02, 2007 | Corporate Counsel

Pressure on the Securities and Exchange Commission to delay the internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for most public companies was stepped up a notch late Thursday after the House of Representatives voted to extend small business exemption through 2008 with a 267-154 vote. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox has repeatedly said that a further delay in complying with the law was unnecessary in light of new guidance approved by the agency in May.

By Donna Block

4 minute read