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FCPA Compliance Report

Tom Fox has practiced law in Houston for 30 years and now brings you the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report. Learn the latest in anti-corruption and anti-bribery compliance and international transaction issues, as well as business solutions to compliance problems.
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Now displaying: May, 2018
May 7, 2018

In this episode Susan Divers, Senior Advisor at LRN returns to talk about LRN’s 2018 Program Effectiveness Report. Divers noted that in 2017, in its Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs and new FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, the DOJ refocused ethics and compliance programs on outcomes, not procedures. The 2018 Program Effectiveness Report demonstrates that, programs focused on values outperform those based primarily on checklists and rules. Divers believes this has only become more important in the wake of the Weinstien scandal and the #MeToo movements, as sexual harassment scandals continue to erupt in companies with programs that may well have codes of conduct and reporting procedures, but apparently lack traction in preventing and dealing with actual misconduct.

We discuss some of the Report’s key findings the most effective E&C programs – and the ones that meet the 2017 DOJ criteria engage in the following:

  • “Operationalize” ethics and compliance using principles and values that inform all organizational decisions, not just those made in a legal or regulatory context.
  • Ensure that the company analyzes the root cause of misconduct, rather than simply punishing misconduct.
  • Embrace accountability and transparency – even if it means holding senior leaders or successful performers fully accountable for their actions.
  • Make sure senior leaders, middle managers and boards of directors are engaged in preventing misconduct, and that the function isn’t left exclusively to lawyers or compliance staff.
  • Are continuously reviewed and improved to ensure they remain value-focused and effective in terms of influencing workplace behavior in a positive way.

Those which fall short have the following characteristics:

  • Fewer than half of the E&C professionals who responded – 49% – said senior leaders in their company get actively involved in and take responsibility and action in instances of compliance failures.
  • Only 38% said their organization’s leaders support appropriate sanctions or penalties on senior-level top performers involved in misconduct.
  • Only 43% said leaders consider E&C factors in business and planning decisions such as new business ventures, mergers and operations reviews.

For LRN Corporation’s 2018 Program Effectiveness Report go to: http://pages.lrn.com/2018-program-effectiveness-report.

May 7, 2018

Over the next five podcasts, I will visit with Don Stern, Managing Director, Corporate Monitors and Consulting Services at Affiliated Monitors, Inc. on working with monitors. Over this series we will consider, in Part I-Fears and Concerns in Working with Monitors; in Part II-the Impact Monitors Can Have for an Organization; in Part III-How Monitors Do Their Jobs; in Part IV-Regulators Using Monitors; and in Part V-Attorneys Using Monitors. At the end of this series you will have a much broader appreciation on the benefits of an independent monitor, how monitors work and how the different types of monitorships can benefit a wide variety of businesses, transactions and business relationships.

There can be a wide variety of concerns for those considering or being required to work with a monitor, both from the corporate perspective and individual employees. From the corporate perspective, the concerns can include the costs of a monitorship and that impact on the bottom line; opening up books the books to an outsider and interference with business operations. These are acerbated by a fear the monitor does not understand the business of the organization or even how business in done in the real world. Things that tend to bring more fear are that the monitor will engage in slow but sure mission creep and exceed the boundary of the charge. Many see monitors as an extension of the government and believe that monitors are  junior G-men and investigators, tasked by the by the government to investigations ongoing. Employees tend to be more afraid the monitor will come in dictatorial powers and exercise them. Employees are usually more concerned with the company’s reputation and business credibility with employees and subcontractors.

Stern believes some of the fears and concerns are understandable, particularly if a company, does not have experience with the positives of the use of an independent monitor and a monitor’s assisting a company in improving the compliance program. While some of it may have to do with the unknown, one area is simply the extra costs associated with a monitor. If the monitor is a part of a government settlement or resolution, there can be the fear, sometimes driven by war stories, that monitors will have mission creep and continue the investigation, even after a resolution. A company may fear that a monitor will come in and look under every nook and cranny. This feeds into both concerns of cost and mission creep.

Another concern is that many monitors are former prosecutors and still retain a prosecutorial mindset. This can lead many companies and their employees to fear a ‘got-cha’ mentality of a monitor who is looking for items to run back to the government or regulators with through their monitorship investigations.

Stern believes that all of these concerns can be handled if not fully alleviated, through thorough discussions with monitor candidates. . Stern noted that one of the areas a company needs to be asking during the monitor selection process is what is “the approach that the monitor is going to take? What's the approach in a meeting or an interview with a mid-level employee in a branch office. Is that person going to feel as if they're under attack or are they brought in a to explain all the good things and all the bad things that are going on so that the monitor can basically make some helpful recommendations.”

In addition to the monitor interview process, companies should understand that the terms of any monitorship are set in the resolution agreement. This is why it is important not only to address these issues during settlement discussions but also take care in the drafting of such agreements to try and remove as many ambiguities as possible. At times, the parties may not want to address what they believe are sensitive issues head on as part of the negotiation process, other times there is not a full understanding of how monitors works. Stern has been brought in as the parties have negotiating to simply educate people as to what monitors do and how they operate and, to demonstrate how the monitorship can be more successful for both sides, for the government side and the company. In drafting the resolution agreement, the key is to lay out the scope, properly and tightly designed. When there are ambiguities which come up in the process of the monitors work, the monitors should work with both sides, as a facilitator to have both parties basically come together and to resolve those issues.

The key is for companies to have a thorough understanding of the monitorship process, whether it is a post-resolution monitorship where the monitor is focused on the company’s compliance with its agreement in the resolution document, Deferred Prosecution Agreement, Non-Prosecution Agreement or other; or a pro-active monitorship. This understanding comes from discussions, reviewing and negotiating the scope of the agreement and hiring experienced monitors who understand their role and more importantly what is not their role going forward.

For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

May 7, 2018

I continue my five-podcast exploration of working with monitors. I am joined by Don Stern, Managing Director, Corporate Monitors and Consulting Services at Affiliated Monitors, Inc. (the sponsor of this five-part series) on working with monitors. Today we take up the impact using a monitor can have on an organization.

Interestingly many of the benefits of a company in working with a monitor come from answering the employees fears and concerns. Many employees are intimidated by attorneys and some even fell guilty about themselves and their work even though they have done nothing wrong. Often employees do not feel like them can trust the company, particularly if the company does not employ the Fair Process Doctrine or institutional justice as a core value of the organization. Other employees feel validated and when they can open up to outsiders it can be a cathartic experience for employees. For the larger organization, the monitor can tell the company what it does not know and provide a much needed “Big Picture” impact; delivering insight on how the company can be run more efficiently and profitably. The bottom line is that the benefits in using an independent monitor can be as behavioral and psychological as compliance and legal.

Stern described the impact of working with a monitor is present at several different levels. The first is a very personal, at the employee level. He said, “I've seen this time and time again when we will sit with either an individual employee at different levels, it could be at a lower level, it could be at the CEO level. The employee will feel validated and in some ways innocent. It sounds odd to say that because you would think that if the company was working properly that each employee would have an opportunity to sort of say their piece, describe observations and things that they were experienced. Unfortunately, that is not the way the real world works when people have concerns and fears of retaliation and the like.”

Stern has found after doing an interview or a focus group, they will sometimes say, “ I have been wanting to say these things to somebody and I hope that, this is not attributed this to me. I'm not looking for you to go back ono anybody and say that I said this, but I hope that you will take what I have said and what others have said and make some suggestions to the company.” The bottom line is that a key impact from working with a monitor is that the monitor listens and “I do think that employees feel better kind of explaining their perspective on what's happening internally in the company.”

Another important reason all of this works is if an organization uses a truly independent monitor. This means one which is not the lawyer for the firm or with the company’s regular outside counsel. This is something most employees more fully appreciate talking to “outsiders who were being were coming in, who they do not interact with on a day to day basis.” Even if the monitorship is required under an enforcement action and in the in the context of a government settlement, Stern has found that if the monitor makes it clear they are independent from the government, employees are more likely to not only open up but also appreciate the experience.  

These concepts tie directly into the Fair Process Doctrine, which most generally holds that if the process is fair, people are more likely to accept undesired outcomes. An independent monitor, who does not perform ongoing work with the company, will certainly be perceived as more fair. As Stern noted, “it’s just human nature.”

This independent nature also gives the monitor the ability to impact the company by helping it turn the page on any conduct which may have gotten it into trouble in the first place. This is particularly true where a company has gone through an enforcement action and resolved the matter with the government and is now ready to move on in a positive way. Stern said that employees typically want to feel good about the organization they work for, they want to be proud of who they work for. Stern said, “time and time again, people aspire to work for a company that they feel good about. They want to tell their spouse that wants to tell their children. They want to feel good. When the neighbors asked them, who do they work for and when companies get into trouble, um, they liked the fact that the pages being turned in that once again, that can be very proud of where they work.”

This independence from the government also works to positively impact the work of a monitor. Stern noted that although an independent monitor has “an obligation to report to the government faithfully as to what we are seeing; the good, bad and the ugly; an independent monitor is not beholding to the government.” Stern’s experience has been “at the end of the day respect us and they recognize that it's in their interest for us to be independent. If we're in the company's pocket and we do whatever the company wants it at the end of the day, the government will see right through that and it's not going to be a good outcome.”

The bottom line is that the positive impacts of working with a monitor can happen on many levels. Obviously for a company which has recently concluded an enforcement action, a monitor can yield many benefits to improve a compliance program. Yet some of the greatest benefits may be more behavioral and psychological to the company’s employees. Not only can talking to a truly independent outsider be cathartic for employees but the entire process can help to reinstill a sense of pride in who they are, who they work for and what the organization means.

For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

May 7, 2018

I continue my five-podcast exploration of working with monitors. I am joined by Don Stern, Managing Director, Corporate Monitors and Consulting Services at Affiliated Monitors, Inc. (the sponsor of this five-part series) on working with monitors. Today we consider how monitors work.

Stern explained that there are variety of tasks and roles a monitor uses when engaging in an independent monitorship. A monitor should understand type of approaches they will take to make an organization more compliant, starting with understanding the work plan. Many times, the monitor must push the organization along by getting buy-in and building consensus. Finally, there should be an awareness of helping the company being compliant in the future.

The starting point is understanding what is the mission of the monitorship. As Stern put it, “we really begin at the beginning.” We meet sometimes meet separately with the government agency to get an appreciation understanding as to why they think things have reached that point, what they see as the problems in the company, what they see as the problems in the industry. And then of course we do the same thing with the company.” Such meetings could also include “outside counsel who have been sort of living with the whatever the precipitating cause a problem which led to the settlement with the government or the investigation. They've lived with it for years. And in many cases, by the way, the company has already remediated significant portions of the problem.”

A monitor should have a particular focus on a particular goal, a particular set of tasks. Yet from there, Stern explained it is “very much a people exercise. The thing that is often obvious relatively early on, a one way or the other is whether the company has a paper program or real program.” Stern indicated that a monitor should spend time at both the higher levels of the company and at the middle and lower levels of the company. Some of the specific techniques can be one on one interviews, site visits to specific offices and with “focus groups where we get people at the same level so we don't get middle managers and upper managers together in one room.”

Stern emphasized it is critical that both company management and the regulators not be surprised by a finding. This means the monitor (and team) should literally “pour through the company” to come up an honest final assessment or report for the organization. It is important to give the company credit where it has remediated or shown improvement and this means emphasizing to the government the wins a company’s compliance program may have sustained.

Interestingly, Stern emphasized that in monitorships as with compliance programs in general, one size does not fit all. A monitor should test whether there is sufficient training on the Code of Conduct, compliance policies and procedures and other issues such as Conflicts of Interest policy. There should also be inquiries into hotline overview and use. Yet there can also be recommendations which arise from the employee interviews, which the monitor may raise to senior management for implementation.

Here Stern presented a simple yet powerful example. It was around having a compliance moment once per week at company meetings. The organization was an engineering company and they took safety very seriously, opening each company meeting with a safety moment. This led to the suggestion of opening meetings with a compliance moment, which employees used not simply to state ethics and compliance issues but to describe situations they faced daily.

A situation arose where an employee was offered tickets to a baseball game by a vendor. The company policy on conflicts of interest prevented the employee from accepting the tickets and he felt conflicted because he wanted to go to the game. More importantly he did not know what to tell the vendor to make them understand he could not accept the tickets. Through discussing this issue after a compliance moment in a company meeting, there was a dialogue allowed the company employees to feel that they have an opportunity to be part of the process. It demonstrated that ethics and compliance is not something imposed on them, but something that is part and parcel of their job and part and parcel of their responsibility.

A monitor must literally work with groups as diverse as the Board of Directors to employees on the shop floor. It is incumbent to use a variety of tactics and techniques to fulfill the mission of a monitor. An independent and experienced monitor is required to use a variety of tools to help an organization move forward with a compliance regime. Stern noted, “a monitor should also have the experience to come in and not only look at how your company is doing, but also benchmark against what is happening not only in your industry but in other industries. And at the end of the day it's a little bit like the making of sausage. At the end of the day we're going to have some recommendations and the expectation is that your company is going to be top of the heap, that you will have a state of the art compliance and ethics program and you will have contributed to making it better.”

For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

May 7, 2018

I continue my five-podcast exploration of working with monitors. I am joined by Don Stern, Managing Director, Corporate Monitors and Consulting Services at Affiliated Monitors, Inc. (the sponsor of this five-part series) on working with monitors. Today we consider the various manners in which regulators at all levels, from the federal, to state and local levels, use monitors. We also consider how monitors can be used outside the regulatory context in areas as diverse as mergers and acquisitions, business ventures, IP and licensing.  

Most compliance practitioners are aware of the role monitors play in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement arena. However, the use of independent monitors is much broader than simply in criminal or civil enforcement actions involving a Deferred Prosecution Agreement, Non-Prosecution Agreement, Corporate Integrity Agreement or other form of resolution. Federal agencies use monitors for a wide variety of roles to ensure compliance with agreements.

At its most basic level, an independent monitor is a way for the government to extend its reach. Both in terms of lengthening out the time that you have true government oversight and in terms through many of the techniques we discussed earlier:  focus group meetings, review documents, talking senior and middle management. It is a very cost-effective way for federal, state and even local governments to extend out their reach. This cost-effectiveness is driven home by that fact that the cost is not borne by the governmental entity or the regulators. The cost is borne by the entity involved.

Stern pointed to the use of an independent monitor by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure that the conditions around anti-competitive and other issues, the FCC approved for the merger between AT&T and Direct TV, were fulfilled. He went on to provide an example where “one of the conditions was  they had to offer a discounted broadband service to certain low-income households. The FCC  wanted access to broadband for low income families, particularly for school kids. The monitor assessed the marketing program on this issue, looking at their efforts to provide discounted broadband, low income households.”

Stern provided another example of regulator use of an independent monitors, this time by a state regulator, the Attorney General of Rhode Island in the area of hospital conversions. This is the situation where a non-profit hospital is purchased by a for profit chain. In such situations, the state attorney general in most states will have to approve that transfer of assets from charitable assets to for-profit assets, applying certain conditions. It could be in the area of recruiting  physicians or requiring the acquiring institutions to keep the mental health services open. You don't have to spend x millions of dollars on new equipment. It is generally around very specific metrics  and it is “increasingly being used by government agencies as a way of not only having confidence that the regulatory decisions are being followed but provides some comfort and confidence to the public knowing that who is looking over the shoulder of the organizations in the public’s interest.”

Yet an independent monitor can be used in non-regulatory areas. One that certainly comes up is pre-acquisition due diligence in the FCPA realm. An independent monitor can be used to assess whether a target or takeover candidate has a robust compliance program. These same concepts also work in the licensing area in pre-acquisition work and even for company which want to test the audit compliance of customers.

The bottom line is independent monitors can come in and look at the system of controls in a wide variety of regulatory and legal areas. This is true because there is no substitute for having somebody independent of the company with some expertise and common sense and practical reality coming in and asking, how are you doing? Stern concluded, “You don't have to do this all the time. It isn't something you need to do even every year, but every once in a while, have somebody come in and take a hard look at how you're doing and then reporting back internally to the company. It is money well spent because you have established that the organization being reviewed has a good program and if you need to fine tune your program in certain ways. Here again, I think that's all to the good.”

For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

May 7, 2018

I conclude this five-podcast exploration of working with monitors, where I have been joined by Don Stern, Managing Director, Corporate Monitors and Consulting Services at Affiliated Monitors, Inc. (the sponsor of this five-part series) on working with monitors. In this final episode we consider lawyers using monitors, most typically where the clients are under investigation for some regulatory issue, such as a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action.

Stern said the biggest mistake lawyers make is to wait too long before bringing in an independent monitor. His experience is that if  you wait until after the conclusion of a matter, you have lost valuable time and potentially cost yourself money, in the form or higher fines and penalties, by waiting. The government expects compliance shortcomings to be remediating during the pendency of an investigation. A monitorship can even begin before  self-reporting to the government. This is because a company should want to find the problem before it voluntarily reports the problem to the government. In this manner, the company could receive get the credit for having done so. It also allows the company to package the entire process “in a way to say not only we discovered the problem, not only are we reporting the problem, but we fixed the problem. We did with an independent third party and we may even want to keep that third party with us to independently assess how we do going forward. That's very persuasive to prosecutors and I've certainly seen situations where in some cases it's resulted in a declination or in a significantly diminished” fine and penalty.   

This is using an independent monitor in a pro-active manner which demonstrates how serious the company is about compliance. It can also be a way to demonstrate any illegal conduct may simply have been an outlier and does not reflect the values, culture and the way the company generally does business. This can provide quite a positive story to present to prosecutors, particularly under the new FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy.

If your company is active in the remediation phase, particularly through an independent monitorship, it is looking at the problem in a holistic approach. It is more than assessing that problem, coming up with some solutions and then implementing the solutions. More importantly an organization is taking that information and looping it back in, in a literally a feedback loop so the companies can improve their compliance program. This is an approach which can be persuasive to regulators.

Stern noted this approach is even more critical for what he called ‘repeat customers’ or recidivist actors. He said government regulators are becoming much more sophisticated in understanding whether a compliance program is simply a paper program. The government wants to know if this a real program. One clear indicia is the feedback loop from an assessment by an independent monitor looping the information back to the company, making changes, testing to see whether the changes are real changes are working changes.

One final area that using an independent monitor is in the area of credibility. One thing I have consistently heard from white-collar practitioners perhaps the most important thing in any FCPA investigation or enforcement action is credibility with the prosecutors. By having a truly independent monitor who is even independent of the outside counsel, who may be heading up an investigation and assessing the compliance program; is one more way to bring that credibility to a, in front of the prosecutors. Stern noted that as the former US Attorney for Massachusetts, your reputation in representing clients before the government is absolutely critical. Having that independence as a monitor can aid a company by giving credibility to their compliance program efforts and this can pay off with real benefits in terms of lesser penalties all the way to a declination.

For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

May 4, 2018

As we celebrate all things Star Wars on the May the Fourth Be With You edition, Jay Rosen and myself take a look at some of the top compliance stories over the past week.

  1. Panasonic settles FCPA enforcement action. Tom spends most of the week on it Background, the Bribery Schemes, a 20% Discountand Lessons Learned. Henry Cutter explores the due diligence and Trace Certification issues in the WSJ Risk and CorruptionJournal as does Kelly Swanson in GIR(sub req’d).
  2. Former VW CEO indicted in emissions-testing scandal. Jack Ewing reports in the NYTand Adrienne Roberts and Christina Rogers report in the WSJ. Dick Cassin reports in the FCPA Blog.
  3. What does the D&B declination mean for self-disclosure? Clara Hudson explores inGIR(sub req’d).
  4. An interesting UK court case considers whether lawyer interviews are privileged when the company agrees to a DPA with the SFO. For an English lawyer perspective, see article in the FCPA Blogby Susan Hawley. For another perspective, see the article by Debevoise & Plimpton lawyers Karolos Seeger, Andrew Lee and Robin Lööf in the NYU Compliance and Enforcement Journal.
  5. Are you using data to power your compliance program? If not you are missing the boat say Ren McEachern and Roy Pollitt in the FCPA Blog.
  6. Two looks at speaking up in a company. Jonathan Marks on how to win back employees trust so they will use a hotline. From an article in Fraud Magazine, he cross-posted on his blog. Henry Cutter interview Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. CCO Antonio Fernández on building a speak up culture in WSJ Risk and Compliance Journal.
  7. Matt Kelly joins us for a special breaking news segment on 5 steps law enforcement officials expect you to engage in if you have a data breach. See Matt’s article in Radical Compliance.
  8. What are the GDPR implications for whistleblowing? Vera Cherepanova explores in the FCPA Blog.
  9. Another week, another declination, this time for Transocean. Kelly Swanson reports in GIR(sub req’d).
  10. Tom announces publication date of his next book, The Complete Compliance Handbook, which will be available on May 21, 2018 on Amazon.com. It is available for PreSale here.
  11. Tom has a busy May planned. Join him at Brazil’s largest compliance conference, the 6th International Compliance Congress, held by LEC – Legal, Ethics and Compliance, May 8 to 10, in São Paulo, Brazil. Registration and information here; Hear him speak to the Houston chapter of ACAMS, from 11:30 -2 PM on Thursday May 17thin Houston on “Driving Compliance and Ethics through Data Analysis”. Information and registration here;and join in a session on Using Frameworks to Prove Compliance Competency at Compliance Week 2018 in Washington DC, May 20-23. Information and registration are here.

For more information on how an independent monitor can help improve your company’s ethics and compliance program, visit our sponsor Affiliated Monitors at www.affiliatedmonitors.com.

May 3, 2018

In this episode of Across the Board, I visit with Preston Pugh and AIysha Hussain from the firm of Miller & Chevalier on their recent paper entitled, “A More Effective Way For Corporate Boards To Respond In A #MeToo World” which they authored with Ian Herbert. In this paper they suggest ways Boards of Directors could begin to address corporate harassment scandals. We use their article as a starting point to explore the roles and responses of Boards to the #MeToo and other corporate scandals.

With these and other scandals putting corporate brands at a fundamental risk, the days of Boards of Directors taking a hands-off approach to what was viewed as fundamentally litigation risks are over. We discuss some of the specific ways a Board can address these matters. Both Pugh and Hussain see #MeToo as compliance issues, not simple employment issues. As such they advocate a much broader remit by the Board. Some of the topics we discuss are:

  • Why is this so important for Boards right now?
  • Has this changed in the #MeToo era?
  • Do you think a Board committee should handle this issue or the full Board?
  • Who should report to the Board on this issue?

This timely and topical podcast will help you as a Board member understand how your role has changed as the risks to your organization has evolved.

For more information go to the paper, “A More Effective Way For Corporate Boards To Respond In A #MeToo World

May 3, 2018

In this episode of Across the Board, I visit with Preston Pugh and AIysha Hussain from the firm of Miller & Chevalier on their recent paper entitled, “A More Effective Way For Corporate Boards To Respond In A #MeToo World” which they authored with Ian Herbert. In this paper they suggest ways Boards of Directors could begin to address corporate harassment scandals. We use their article as a starting point to explore the roles and responses of Boards to the #MeToo and other corporate scandals.

With these and other scandals putting corporate brands at a fundamental risk, the days of Boards of Directors taking a hands-off approach to what was viewed as fundamentally litigation risks are over. We discuss some of the specific ways a Board can address these matters. Both Pugh and Hussain see #MeToo as compliance issues, not simple employment issues. As such they advocate a much broader remit by the Board. Some of the topics we discuss are:

  • Why is this so important for Boards right now?
  • Has this changed in the #MeToo era?
  • Do you think a Board committee should handle this issue or the full Board?
  • Who should report to the Board on this issue?

This timely and topical podcast will help you as a Board member understand how your role has changed as the risks to your organization has evolved.

For more information go to the paper, “A More Effective Way For Corporate Boards To Respond In A #MeToo World

May 2, 2018

In this episode, Matt Kelly and I take a continued deep dive the underlying assumptions around the reasons for lack of IPOs by small and mid-cap sized firms. We focus on a speech by SEC Commissioner Robert Jackson recently gave exploring possible reasons why middle market companies aren’t going public. It turns out that the numbers showed that the costs for going public, roughly 7% of the total return has remained constant since the early 90s.

While the Administration has consistently talked about the costs of going public driven by the administrative cost required under Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank, it turns out that is only part of the equation. The other part is investment bankers whose fees have not dropped or even become more efficient in nearly 25 years.  We explore the implications from this finding, what it may mean for the SEC’s attempts to bring more small and mid-cap companies into the public market and compliance going forward.

For more see Matt Kelly’s piece More on Declining IPO Trends

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