During the Great Panic, there was some grumbling that private equity-backed companies were posing a great risk to the economy. The Private Equity Council has done some research and came to the conclusion that the opposite is true. They are less likely to default. Of course, there are lots of caveats and distinctions in the … Read more »
Accredited Investors under the Restoring American Financial Stability Act
One of the surprises in the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 is that it proposes to raise the standard for being an accredited investor. Section 412 of the bill would require the SEC to increase the dollar thresholds to be qualified as an accredited investor. Section 413 would require the GAO to study … Read more »
Incentives, Productivity and NUMMI
I recently listened to a great show from This American Life. They covered the story of New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI). General Motors and Toyota opened NUMMI in 1984 as a joint venture so Toyota could start building cars in the US. Toyota showed GM the secrets of its production system and how Toyota … Read more »
Weekend Book Review: The Informant
I’ve had Kurt Eichenwald’s The Informant on my reading list for a long time. It dropped farther down the list after seeing the previews for the Steven Soderbergh movie. Why read the book when you can watch the movie? What raised my interest was hearing a great radio segment from This American Life that tells … Read more »
The SEC Drinks Its Own Champagne
The SEC has named its first chief compliance officer: Kathleen Griffin. She will be tasked with oversight of employee securities transactions and financial disclosure reporting. The creation of a compliance program to prevent insider trading came from last year’s insider trading scandal at the SEC. The Office of the Inspector General reported that “the Commission … Read more »
Compliance Bits and Pieces for April 2
Here are some recent stories that caught my eye: Q&A with Ethisphere Executive Director Alex Brigham in Corporate Compliance Insights The Ethisphere Institute recently announced the 2010 World’s Most Ethical Companies, highlighting 100 organizations that lead the way in promoting ethical business standards. These companies go beyond legal minimums, introduce innovative ideas benefiting the public … Read more »
Some of My Favorite April Fool’s Day Items on the Web
The web is full of surprises today. Here are some of my favorites The iCade to turn your iPad into an arcade cabinet Google has renamed itself to Topeka Topeka went first and renamed themselves “Google” to attract their fiber for communities program. Atlassian’s Fourwalls A location based social networking platform for inside your company. … Read more »
April Fool’s Day
April Fool’s Day is celebrated with hoaxes and practical jokes. I’m hesitant to post anything today for fear that a serious story would be seen as a joke or a joke would be seen as a serious story. A few years ago, if I had told you that Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, General Motors … Read more »
N.J. Supreme Court upholds privacy of personal e-mails accessed at work
The New Jersey courts have been handling a case that squarely addressed a company’s ability to monitor employee email. Back in April of 2009, I mentioned a New Jersey case that found e-mail, sent during work hours on a company computer, was not protected by the attorney-client privilege: Compliance Policies and Email. That later was … Read more »
Child Climbing Mount Everest
Jordan Romero is thirteen years old. And he is departing on April 5 for his trip to climb Mount Everest. That would be an extraordinary feat. But is it ethical to allow such a young person to put himself in such a dangerous situation? (In case you are wondering, the current record for the youngest … Read more »