The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Dodd-Frank’s clawback provision both require a restatement. The restatement of financial results to correct material errors – whether those errors occurred by default or by design – is a necessary condition for enforcing both the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 304 provision and the new Dodd-Frank law.
This week the Goldman Sachs Facebook deal fell apart. Sort of. Due to the extensive media coverage of the details, in particular before they were final, Goldman Sachs was running some really big regulatory risks related to general solicitation of potential shareholders. Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote about the deal on January 4th. Read the rest in my column on Forbes, Accounting Watchdog.
Arthur Levitt Jr. wrote a recent Op-Ed piece for the New York Times defending “high frequency trading.” As you can see, the conflicts for Mr. Levitt, especially now that he is also advising Goldman Sachs (also a PwC client) and Getco, are numerous.
Mr. Levitt is 78 years old. Isn’t it time for him (and Paul Volcker) to go fishing? Why don’t the numerous media outlets he works/writes for insist that he disclose his conflicts?
