Category: Featured News

These are brief news articles written by Internal Audit 360 editors. They may contain links to source material, but they are self contained and do not link to a longer version of the news item.

Kraft foods

Kraft and Mondelēz to Pay $16M for Commodities Price Manipulation

Kraft Foods Group and Mondelēz Global, a Chicago-based snack food and beverage company, are finally paying the price for accusations of trying to manipulate the price of wheat in December 2011. An enforcement action brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission nearly seven years ago against the food companies has Read More

Deputy: OCC to Step Up Oversight on Banks’ Use of Artificial Intelligence

During a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Kevin Greenfield, deputy comptroller for operational risk policy at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, stressed the need for stepped up risk management when banks use AI. He also said the OCC will be Read More

SEC Proposes New Disclosure Rules for SPACs

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed new rules and required disclosures for initial public offerings through special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). If adopted, the new rules would require additional reporting about SPAC sponsors, conflicts of interest, and sources of dilution. They also would require additional disclosures regarding business combinations Read More

Anti-money laundering

USAA Fined $140 Million for Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Failures

Two banking regulators have together assessed a $140 million civil money penalty against USAA Federal Savings Bank for what they called “willful violations” of the Bank Secrecy Act. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) levied enforcement actions against USAA including Read More

Pay equity ratings

Facebook, Disney, and Walmart Earn an ‘F’ on Pay Equity Practices

A new report gives some companies a failing grade for racial and gender pay equity and their efforts to disclose and act on such pay disparity. Goldman Sachs, Facebook, Disney, Oracle, and Walmart were among the companies that received an “F” for their public pay equity disclosures and practices. Of Read More

SEC seal

SEC to Revisit Dodd-Frank Rules on Executive Compensation Disclosure

The Securities and Exchange Commission is revisiting Dodd-Frank Act era rules that require companies to disclose more information about how their executive pay lines up with the company’s financial performance. This week the agency proposed new rules that is said would better reflect Congress’ intent to shed light on corporate Read More

Rocket Launch

FTC Sues to Block Lockheed’s Purchase of Rocket Engine Company

The Federal Trade Commission has sued to block Lockheed Martin’s $4.4 billion proposed deal to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne, the last independent U.S. supplier of missile propulsion systems. The move could signal an emboldened FTC that could look to provide greater scrutiny on deals it considers potentially harmful to competition. Aerojet Read More

PWC investigation

U.K. Audit Watchdog Expands Investigation into PwC over Babcock Audits

The United Kingdom’s Financial Reporting Council has expanded its investigation into audits conducted by Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers of Babcock International Group to include the fiscal years 2019 and 2020. The FRC was already investigating the accounting firm’s audits of the U.K. defense contractor in 2018 and 2017, after spot Read More

SEC Making New Push to Adopt Tabled Compensation Clawback Rule

The Securities and Exchange Commission appears to be making a new effort to pass clawback rules that would require executives to pay back compensation that was obtained by hitting incentive goals that were later found to be false or inaccurate. The rule was included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Read More