The Supreme Court will hear a case involving disclosure of “known trends and uncertainties,” which is part of the overall MD&A disclosure guidelines. In your opinion, if you were a CFO, would you disclose such information, unless immaterial, or not disclose, unless material? Is there a difference?
If you were the Chair of the SEC, what would you do regarding Dodd-Frank? Do you agree with Senator Warren’s concerns about potential recusals and deadlocks, should Mr. Clayton be confirmed?
Do you think that the proposed CHOICE act, if passed, would lead to an increase of financial fraud cases? Why or why not? If you were the CFO of a “smaller” company, would you still want your internal controls audited?
What is your opinion about the acting head of the SEC removing subpoena authority from some of the SEC’s senior enforcement officials? What to you perceive as being some of the potential benefits? Potential costs?
In its non-GAAP EPS, Allergan removed “more than half of all operating expenses,” according to the SEC. If the non-GAAP EPS is reconciled to the GAAP EPS, does it matter what or how much they removed? Why or why not?
Do you think the disclosure requirement mandated by the SEC re: conflict minerals should be abandoned by the SEC? Why or why not? What are some of the unintended consequences of the rule?
So Yahoo is being investigated for the delay in disclosure re: the cybersecurity breach. If you were CEO, how would you determine, not only if you must disclose, but also by when?
Jay Clayton is the lead candidate for chair of the SEC. Do you think he is qualified? Do some of those same qualifications present a potential problem if he were to be confirmed as chair? What is the ideal candidate for the job? Does such a candidate exist?
So the SEC fined GM $1,000,000 for failing to disclose the ignition switch problem internally to its accountants so they could assess whether a loss contingency should have been booked. What is the purpose of this fine? Who will pay it? How do you think it was determined?
Do you think it is appropriate to hold individuals (such as a named CFO) liable for errors in financial reporting? Why or why not? What are the consequences for bringing talented individuals into CFO roles?
If you had the final say on who should be the head of the PCAOB, what criteria would you use? Are you for or against the proposed requirement that audit firms identify the lead partner on an audit engagement?
Given the SEC Chair’s promotion of IFRS, why do you suppose that movement on the issue continues to drag on so slowly?
Why is there a trend toward “de-equitizing” the capital markets? Do you believe (over) regulation of public companies plays a part? If you needed cash, what options are available and how would you choose?
Microsoft obtained SEC approval before disclosing non-GAAP revenue figures in its financial filings. What do you think the consequences would have been had Microsoft not received pre-clearance before announcing non-GAAP revenue?
The “Dodd-Frank” legislation was enacted largely because of the financial crisis of 2008. What is your opinion about, for example, the following: 1) say-on-pay 2) insiders hedging company stock 3) pay-ratio disclosure 4) conflict minerals disclosure? Should these provisions be maintained? Why or why not? Who benefits from these disclosures?
Do you think that requiring firms to disclose political contributions politicizes the SEC? If so, how exactly? Why would firms not want to disclose their politcal contributions? Why would they want to disclose them? Should the SEC force firms to make this disclosure? How does this disclosure accord with the SEC’s mandate?
Exxon has been criticized (and investigated) for not writing down the value of its oil reserves. Two different models for writing down these reserves are mentioned in the article. Why are there different models? Should there be?
Do you believe Senator Warren’s demands that the President replace the chair of the SEC, Mary Jo White, are valid? What is the official charge of the SEC?
EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, is apparently being tweaked, to make it “more” (?) non-GAAP. Should investors be concerned? Should investors be using cash based measures that are harder for firms to tweak? Should the government oversee non-GAAP metrics?
