In a recent edition of the Big Number, the Wall Street Journal’s Maxwell Murphy reported that 96% of S&P 500 companies disclosed in their 2015 proxy statements that they used a peer group to gauge executive pay. Generally, peer groups used for benchmarking … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: November 2015
Acquisition Targets: Strong Companies have Better Chances
The market has seen a recent surge in mergers and acquisitions. In the first three quarters of 2015, there have been as many as 45 M&A deals, each of which were over $10 billion. Of those, 33, totaling almost $860 billion, targeted … Continue reading
2015 SEC Enforcement Actions Produce Decade High Results
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently released a summary of the agency’s enforcement activity for 2015. The announcement depicted a record-breaking number of enforcement actions initiated and monetary fines ordered. Over the past ten years, enforcement actions initiated by the SEC for a given year … Continue reading
2015 Audit Committee Transparency Barometer
Last week, the Center for Audit Quality released its second annual Audit Committee Transparency Barometer. The Barometer, compiled and published in partnership with Audit Analytics, evaluates the extent of audit committee disclosures for the S&P 1500 composite companies, broken out by Large Cap … Continue reading
Auditor Changes Roundup: Q3 2015
Once again, BDO led the way in new SEC engagement wins among the large audit firms. In the third quarter of 2015, BDO added 13 new clients against a loss of five, for a net gain of eight. Added to … Continue reading