Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Lessons of the Financial Crisis: The Dangers of Short-Termism

Editor’s Note: Sheila Bair is the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This post is based on Chairman Bair’s remarks to the National Press Club, available here. As I prepare to close out my term, I cannot help reflect on the challenges we have faced over the past five years and some of the […]

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The Information Content of Annual Earnings Announcements and Mandatory Adoption of IFRS

In the paper, The Information Content of Annual Earnings Announcements and Mandatory Adoption of IFRS, forthcoming in the Journal of Accounting & Economics as published by Elsevier, we examine whether the information content of earnings announcements increased in countries that mandated adoption of IFRS compared to countries that retained domestic accounting standards. We address this […]

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Elevating Board Performance

The global financial crisis has prompted debate once again on how to improve the effectiveness of the board of directors at listed companies. Despite considerable reforms over the past two decades, boards – particularly at financial institutions – have been criticized recently for failing to properly guide strategy, oversee risk management, structure executive pay, manage […]

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Sixth Circuit Upholds Tortious Interference Verdict Against Auction Loser’s Overbid

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has affirmed a District Court judgment holding an interloper that breached its standstill agreement liable for tortious interference to the winning bidder in an auction. The interloper is required to pay the winner the incremental amount – over $100 million – that it took to secure […]

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The Changing Information Environment and Disclosure De-regulation

In July 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the enactment of the Securities Offering Reform (Reform), which, among other things, relaxes restrictions—known as ‘gun jumping’ provisions—on firms’ forward-looking disclosures prior to public equity offerings. The SEC argues that in recent years, the information environment has become much richer through marked improvements in mandated […]

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SEC Adopts New Rules to Encourage Whistleblowers

Recently, the SEC adopted controversial new rules that create significant financial incentives for whistleblower employees to report suspected securities law violations directly to the SEC, potentially circumventing company compliance programs in the process. Under the new rules, which were adopted pursuant to Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC will pay awards to whistleblowers […]

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Janus Capital Group v. First Derivative Traders: Only the Supreme Court can “Make” a Tree

Editor’s Note: Jeffrey Gordon is the Alfred W. Bressler Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. This post discusses the Supreme Court decision in Janus Capital Group v. First Derivative Traders, available here; a post from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP concerning this case is available here. The Supreme Court decision in Janus Capital Group […]

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Posted in Court Cases, Op-Eds & Opinions, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

External Networking and Internal Firm Governance

In our paper, External Networking and Internal Firm Governance, forthcoming in the Journal of Finance, we use panel data on S&P 1500 companies to identify external network connections between directors and CEOs. We observe network connections stemming from shared external board seats, prior employment in other firms, education, or charitable and leisure activities. We test […]

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Moving Twenty-Two S&P 500 Companies towards Board Declassification

This post provides a summary of work to declassify corporate boards done during the 2010-11 proxy season by the American Corporate Governance Institute (ACGI). This work contributed to moving 22 S&P 500 companies toward board declassification, which could result in as much as a 15% reduction in the incidence of board classification among S&P 500 […]

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A Plan to Tax the Foreign Income of U.S. Companies

Editor’s Note: Robert Pozen is a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. This post is based on an op-ed that appeared today in Bloomberg. The current system for taxing foreign source income of U.S. corporations makes no sense. In theory, income earned by controlled foreign subsidiaries of […]

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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Op-Eds & Opinions | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment