If you were on the compensation committee of your firm’s board, would you require indexing equity based compensation? If you were CEO, would you be against it? If so, how would you argue against it?
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?
If you were CEO, and if you believe the results of the research that suggests that explicitly mentioning “shareholder value” in your annual letter to shareholders affects your compensation, how would you write your letter?(!)
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?
KPMG received a letter from Senator Warren questioning the quality of the firm’s audits in the wake of Wells Fargo “scandal.” Do you think KPMG shares in the responsibility? Should they be responsible? What is a potential downside to changing the nature of the audit and the auditor’s responsibility with respect to this and similar issues?
How would you determine whether financial reporting is “unbalanced”? How would you measure quality financial reporting? Do you think this attribute of financial reporting varies by country?
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?
Do you believe it is unusual for governments to relinquish ownership of commercial enterprises in favor of private control? What do the Norwegian and Swedish governments believe that private capital structures could do better than social/public ownership? How would you measure whether private ownership in fact is better?
Can you follow the arithmetic supporting the claim that borrowing to fund pension plan assets can boost EPS more than borrowing to buy back stocks? What is your opinion about this financial strategy?
Public pensions are underfunded by an estimated $1.75 trillion. Can you identify the various causes, as well as possible solutions? Will there be “winners” and “losers”? Can you name them?
Do you think you could have predicted the goodwill impairments for these German firms? What would make good predictors?
What is the purpose of “clawing back” pay to executives and other employees? Do you find the idea substantive? Symbolic? How would you determine how much to claw back? What behaviors should trigger a claw back, if any?
What accounting measurement and reporting issues are particularly applicable to firms with fewer fixed assets?
So the SEC would seemingly like for firms to streamline their financial disclosures, yet firms are afraid to do so for fear of the SEC? Seems like a difficult situation to resolve. What proposals would you have to try to resolve it?
Do you think the FASB should use Actual Realized Gains (ARG) in measuring equity compensation expense, rather than Estimated Fair Value (EFV)? What would be the advantages/disadvantages of ARG over EFV?
Exxon has not impaired certain oil and gas-related assets, even though the price of oil has fallen. What are the two main criteria for recognizing an impairment of these assets? Do you believe both criteria have been met? How could the district attorney litigate against an accounting issue that is so judgment-dependent?
How would you measure and assess whether firms’ cultures would be compatible after a merger? Is there a “match.com” for merger partners?
If you were an employee at a firm with a DB pension plan, would you be worried!? Why is the funded status so low? What could/should firms do to fully fund their plans?
