Donna Anderson considers herself lucky to have a career focused on analyzing the financial disclosures and governance practices of the...Read more

Last week, the SEC announced its second-largest whistleblower award in the five years the program has existed. A former employee of an...Read more

From Carol Strickland’s perspective, ‘the corporate secretary sits in a catbird’s seat,’ with an opportunity to have his or her finger...Read more

Cindy Fornelli remembers when any mention of compliance – as corporate governance was known several years before Sarbanes-Oxley –...Read more

It no longer seems peculiar that auto makers like Daimler should be buying mobility app start-ups like RideScout. It’s been eight...Read more

Even as leaders at many publicly listed companies are trying to wrap their heads around the best ways to approach sustainability...Read more

It’s unusual to see a start-up get mired in a mess as high profile as Theranos has, but other fledgling firms may well appreciate the...Read more

The latest round of guidance from the US Treasury Department intended to put the kibosh on tax inversions has done just that. On...Read more

This week’s news that prosecutors globally – including the US Department of Justice (DOJ) – have initiated probes into the Panama...Read more

There are few cultures where losing face is as personally devastating as in Japan. The abrupt resignation on April 7 of Toshifumi...Read more

Investor pressure on companies to consider pressing concerns about environmental, social and governance issues is expected to continue...Read more

Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) was recognized for its year-round use of technology, which is imbedded in how it does business...Read more

The judges liked Westpac’s efforts in maintaining an intranet site to better serve internal stakeholders and its project that enables...Read more

The Society for Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE) held its 14th annual Compliance & Ethics Institute (CEI) in Las Vegas on...Read more

In its ongoing effort to keep up with investors’ requests for more efficient ways to consume data, General Electric issued its first...Read more

This year’s award for best CSR disclosure went to CVS Health for ‘walking the talk’ in its decision – taken in 2014 – to stop selling...Read more

Microsoft was recognized at Corporate Secretary 's 8th annual Corporate Governance Awards for giving investors varied channels through...Read more

Johnson Controls’ recent news of plans to merge with Tyco International puts the automotive batteries and internal systems...Read more

Lockheed Martin is the 2015 winner of the award for best compliance and ethics program (large cap) for the supplier code of ethics it...Read more

If it wasn’t already clear how deadly serious the SEC is about increasing its enforcement actions, the $700,000 award to an outside...Read more

When ING Group’s US subsidiary was spun off in 2013 to become Voya Financial, the newly independent company had already made a...Read more

More than one in three US organizations report having been the victim of economic crime and cybercrime has risen to become the second...Read more

In the wake of widespread government commitments at the Paris climate talks to reduce carbon emissions in the years ahead, socially...Read more

It’s an unfortunate sign of the times that a new year often brings more trepidation about an unknown future than excitement about new...Read more

The debate over how to combat the tendency toward short-term thinking by companies and investors holds no promise of being resolved...Read more

As the US prepares to commemorate Thanksgiving, I’m offering a couple of bite-sized governance items this week, as a reminder that you...Read more

In the first days of his papacy, Pope Francis declared: 'How I would like to see a church that is poor and is for the poor' —...Read more

Early last year, when Facebook announced plans to acquire messaging app WhatsApp, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) consumer...Read more

Some companies are way ahead of the US Chamber of Commerce and other trade organizations purporting to represent their interests, at...Read more

A strict missive from the US Department of Justice (DoJ) regarding tougher targeting of individual executives for criminal misconduct...Read more

In the 2016 proxy season it will be interesting to see the extent to which incumbent directors will face challengers when standing for...Read more

For all the lip service being paid recently to ethics and compliance at US companies, the top concerns for E&C professionals...Read more

With the peak traffic period of the 2015 proxy season nearly over, the transparency of corporate disclosure is still on many investors...Read more

In one of the final episodes of Mad Men , Joan Harris gets some invaluable advice that helps her navigate an uncomfortable situation...Read more

Today is the deadline for companies to submit their second annual report on the presence of conflict minerals in their supply chains...Read more

Information technology and cyber-security continue to be the leading concern for both directors and general counsel, according to the...Read more

In my May 6 e-newsletter, I provided a bit of context for the new category we’ve created for this year’s Corporate Governance Awards,...Read more

Move over, Janet Yellen. It's no longer just the oracular policy pronouncements by the Fed chief that anxious investors are parsing...Read more

Cross border issues such as identifying who your overseas investors are and communicating with them where they are is one of most...Read more

From due diligence processes to willingness to exit difficult markets, corporate compliance and ethics programs appear to be getting...Read more

In cautionary articles about toughening FCPA enforcement by the Department of Justice and the SEC, a lot of attention has been paid to...Read more

General Electric has begun to revolutionize its 10-K filing much like it has overhauled its proxy statements over the last few years...Read more

Throughout the 1990s, clothing manufacturers such as Nike were synonymous with slave wages and unsafe factory conditions in developing...Read more

Companies whose operations have an impact on local communities are increasingly extending their stakeholder engagement efforts by...Read more

Corporate America – and at least one of its regulators – is running scared amid mounting challenges to entrenched boards of directors...Read more

In late October ISS announced its adoption of a ‘scorecard’ approach to evaluating equity plans in the US, among other benchmark...Read more

These days there is a greater discussion in boardrooms about more closely tying all sorts of things – from risk management to CSR...Read more

Given the greater risk of investigation of whistleblower claims for companies around the world and increased co-operation between...Read more

Last week was International Fraud Awareness Week (November 16-22), which reminded companies of how critical it is that they assess...Read more

Corporate Secretary recently spoke with Robyn Farmer, chief ethics and compliance officer at Newell Rubbermaid, about some of the...Read more

With Halloween less than two weeks away, forget haunted houses, Walking Dead parties and masks that drip ‘blood’. Ransomware that can...Read more

ISS appears poised to pay even closer scrutiny to who qualifies as an independent board director. The proxy advisory firm recently...Read more

In early September, I posted a query on the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals’ online discussion board,...Read more

When it comes to compliance, filing annual unclaimed property reports with the state in which they’re incorporated is often something...Read more

If there is any doubt that we’re entering an era of more rigorous disclosure for which public companies need to be prepared, consider...Read more

Senior executives spend much of their lives on planes and in airport clubs, but what about 
living inside the company board portal?...Read more

For all the attention companies are devoting to shareholder engagement, this proxy season many firms also tried to exclude shareholder...Read more

Amid Broomfield, Colorado’s majestic Rocky Mountains terrain, roughly 175 transfer agents, unclaimed property experts, corporate...Read more

Managing the corporate veil, which entails ensuring that an international corporation’s foreign subsidiaries don’t become...Read more

When it comes to characterizing how independent boards members are, describing board relationships as collegial has become something...Read more

Let’s assume for a minute that all activist shareholders your company may encounter have good intentions and a long-term commitment to...Read more

Corporate cyber-security is probably the hottest of this year’s hot-button issues for directors: how to protect customer data, respond...Read more

That question may sound like something governance experts shouldn't have to wrestle with until, say, the year 2040. But guess what?...Read more

Does that make any sense? If not, who’s responsible for this trend away from promoting experienced insiders to top leadership spots?...Read more

The latest Law in the Boardroom research report, released yesterday by advisory firm FTI Consulting and NYSE Governance Services,...Read more

As the money pouring into activist hedge funds provides added firepower to pursue larger targets and increases activists' influence...Read more

As shareholder engagement continues to take root as a best governance practice, investors are seeking increased context for the...Read more

At a time when data breaches, social media gaffes and careless due diligence of third-party service providers are causing members of...Read more

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance factors are now playing a more pivotal role in institutional investors’...Read more

The idea of shareholder-driven direct democracy is being hotly debated in the governance arena. Shareholders are flexing more muscle...Read more

Over the weekend, I had occasion to hear the experience of a dentist whose practice was nearly ruined by poor oversight of an office...Read more

One sounds like best practice; the other sends red flags suggesting the departing officer may not have been entirely convinced of the...Read more

Bennett’s ouster follows a string of other high-profile CEO farewells over the past year where boards let many months pass before...Read more

Shareholder resolutions asking companies to disclose more about their political contributions account for 30 percent of all social...Read more

During proxy season, shareholders are inclined to express their satisfaction with a company's performance over the past year, or lack...Read more

If, in the wake of major cyber-breaches at Target and Neiman Marcus, you haven't seen the writing on the wall about the regulatory...Read more

What corporate compliance departments may be less aware of is that, in addition to bribery directed at foreign government officials,...Read more

With the high-profile investigations into alleged FCPA violations by Walmart and GlaxoSmithKline, companies have become more convinced...Read more

Best Buy’s legal team played a critical part in the turnaround that has occurred at the company in the past year. Led by general...Read more

From new ways to gauge the independence of compensation committees and their advisors to changing company bylaws, the 2014 proxy...Read more

Suzanne Rich Folsom is known for fixing complicated governance messes, such as at AIG, where the regulatory and compliance system she...Read more

In June 2012, any thought that Best Buy’s corporate governance efforts would be award-worthy was inconceivable. The consumer...Read more

Held in Washington, DC in October, this year’s Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics’ (SCCE) annual Compliance and Ethics...Read more

With government regulators around the world paying closer scrutiny to corporate anti-corruption and bribery policies, companies need...Read more