Corruption Currents: In Kenya, ‘Please, Just Steal a Little’
An anti-corruption plea in Kenya goes: "Please, just steal a little." A government report shocked the nation.
The Obama administration’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline Friday ends a seven-year saga with a declaration that the project is not in the national interest and would undermine U.S. global leadership in fighting climate change.
Drug makers Eli Lilly, Merck and Valeant have disclosed separate requests from the U.S. Justice Department for information related to drug pricing—the latest sign of increased scrutiny of the industry’s pricing practices.
Spokesmen for the U.S. energy industry blasted President Barack Obama’s decision to kill the Keystone XL pipeline Friday, though the widely expected move won’t have much impact on the industry’s operations.
Ford Motor Co. has wrapped up its contract talks with the United Auto Workers union, agreeing to a tentative labor agreement largely patterned after a General Motors Co. deal that has yet to be ratified by the rank-and-file.
World Bank Chief Financial Officer Bertrand Badré and Jin-Yong Cai, the head of its International Finance Corporation arm, are departing.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Michael Pearson was forced to sell a big chunk of his company stock after Goldman Sachs called in a loan backed by the shares.
Takata isn’t worried about its financing, its chief financial officer said, after the maker of air bag inflaters posted a quarterly loss that was hit by recall-related charges.
The cancellations affect about 37,500 passengers, and further disruptions expected Saturday
Ahn Hong-chul, the chairman of Korea Investment Corp., which oversees about $85 billion in assets, said he was resigning for personal reasons.
Growing friction between the chief executive of Brazilian state oil company Petrobras and its board is threatening to hamper the company’s efforts to shore up its finances.
Activists waged some 250 campaigns on non-financial companies to stoke corporate change last year, with mixed effects on bondholders, according to a Friday report from Fitch Ratings.
Short sellers and activist-research firms in Asia are taking on higher-profile targets as an economic slowdown exposes weak points in companies’ finances.
Europe’s top antitrust regulator has extended by a month its deadline for reviewing Telefonica’s $14 billion sale of British cellphone operator O2, a week after opening a full-blown investigation into the deal.
The EU is allowing itself the maximum time granted by privacy regulators to complete a new trans-Atlantic data-transfer pact after the bloc’s top court scrapped the previous framework.
The European Union published details of tough labor and environmental standards it wants included in a putative trans-Atlantic free-trade pact.
Spanish telecoms firm said it expects Europe’s top antitrust regulator will approve the planned sale of its O2 U.K. unit, brushing aside market analysts’ concern that the probe may derail the $14 billion deal.
The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to follow the group’s recommendations, which would apply to recreational drones weighing more than nine ounces.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin launched a broadside against the Pentagon’s decision to award twin contracts to Northrop Grumman to develop and build a fleet of new long-range bombers.
Wells Fargo Financial Chief John Shrewsberry said the bank would need to raise at least $40 billion in new debt, adding that his firm and others are “victims” of upcoming regulatory requirements.
Oil-field service firms are slashing costs amid an industry-rattling fall in crude prices.
United Continental Chief Executive Oscar Munoz, who suffered a heart attack three weeks ago, said he plans to return to his job at the airline in the first quarter.
SEC Chairman Mary Jo White criticized bipartisan legislation that would ease rules governing a specialty investment product that has become increasingly popular as an alternative to more regulated high-risk loans.
MetLife warned it may face a “significant fine” for alleged problems surrounding its sales of retirement-income products, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday.
Authorities were searching for victims and determining the death toll after a Brazil town was flooded by mine waste from a burst dam owned by two of the world’s largest mining companies, Vale and BHP Billiton.
The Obama administration on Friday plans to announce executive actions to lift standards and increase transparency at the self-policing groups that accredit colleges.
Exxon Mobil has received a subpoena from the New York attorney general’s office seeking information about the company’s research on and response to climate change over several decades, the company said.
The European Commission is seeking any evidence and information member states have on “irregularities” reported this week by Volkswagen on carbon-dioxide emissions from its vehicles.
A former J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. investment adviser, Michael Oppenheim, on Thursday admitted to stealing roughly $22 million of his clients’ funds, in part to cover personal expenses.
Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $81.6 million to settle claims it failed to notify thousands of bankrupt homeowners that it was increasing their mortgage payments in violation of federal bankruptcy law.
Computer-security company FireEye Inc. has blamed disappointing earnings results in part on less hacking by China, but rivals say it isn’t so.
Norway’s Telenor is seeking to control damage from bribery allegations engulfing its 33%-owned affiliate VimpelCom.
The first U.S. jury to hear evidence about a sprawling scheme to manipulate a key benchmark interest rate convicted two former Rabobank traders.
Risk management, strategy and analysis written and compiled by Deloitte
The latest issue of Deloitte’s “Heads Up” newsletter discusses FASB’s proposed Accounting Statement Update (ASU), which would give private companies a one-time unconditional option to forgo a preferability assessment the first time they elect a Private Company Council (PCC) accounting alternative within the proposal’s scope. It would also eliminate the effective dates of PCC accounting alternatives that are within the proposal’s scope, as well as extend the transition guidance in ASU 2014-02 and ASU 2014-03.
This summer, the global business climate was shaken by events in Greece and China. In the latest edition of the Global Economic Outlook, Deloitte economists provide outlooks for China, United States, Eurozone, Japan, India, Brazil, Canada, United Kingdom, and South Africa. In addition, the report also includes coverage of two special topics: The degree to which emerging markets are well prepared to deal with economic shocks and the global value chains, which is a key component in today’s international trade ecosystem.
More authority and stronger organizational support are helping to increase the effectiveness of corporate compliance programs, yet persistent concerns remain about information technology (IT) systems’ ability to fulfill compliance program requirements, according to “In Focus: 2015 Compliance Trends Survey,” a joint effort between Deloitte and Compliance Week.
The economic health of North America and China, intensifying competition and governments’ regulatory activity are external risks that most concern the boards of North American companies, according to Deloitte’s third-quarter 2015 CFO Signals™ survey. The survey also found that concerns about Europe rank considerably lower than they did two years ago, while concerns about China are much higher. Surveyed CFOs also noted that boards are concerned about poor execution against their chosen strategies, with high concerns about execution of initiatives.
Final recommendations about how multinational companies should be allowed to shift profits among different tax jurisdictions were issued this month, and the U.S. Congress has not yet indicated whether it will consider legislation in response to the reports. Issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) the proposals on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project recommend changes to domestic laws, the OECD Model Tax Convention and the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines. Release of the final reports and subsequent actions by other nations may create a motivation for Congress to act. Further, some U.S. lawmakers say the release of the reports underscores the urgency for Congress to reform the U.S. international tax rules.
Commercial real estate companies’ (CRE) web-based transactions with tenants and vendors, cloud services, the use of smartphones and tablets under “bring your own device” policies and social media create multiple access points for hackers to steal PII and intellectual property. Moreover, CRE companies may be uniquely vulnerable to treasury management cyber risk. By considering the link between technological innovations and cyber risk and how to mitigate and manage that risk, CRE company CFOs can get ahead of current and emerging cyberthreats.