• Accounting - QuickPress

    New Fed Rule Limits its Crisis Bailout Powers

    Fed Limits its Ability to Rescue Financial Firms The Federal Reserve has adopted restrictions on its ability to rescue failing financial companies.  Howard Schneider reports in this article that under the rules, the Fed can provide only broad-based assistance and cannot rescue individual firms. To read the full article in Reuters, click: New Fed Rule Limits its Crisis Bailout Powers.

  • Practice Management - QuickPress

    Dodd-Frank Survives Court Challenge by States

    The states, in an amended complaint, challenged only the portion of Dodd-Frank that empowers the Treasury secretary to order a liquidation of a financial company whose collapse may threaten the stability of the banking system. U.S. District Judge, Ellen Segal Huvelle recently dismissed a lawsuit brought by 11 states and a Texas-based bank, challenging Dodd-Frank’s financial regulations, specifically those that create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  According to Bloomberg, the plaintiffs claimed that establishing such an agency violated the U.S. Constitution because Congress does not appropriate its budget, the president has limited powers to remove its director and the courts are restricted…

  • Forensic Accounting - QuickPress

    Experts Estimate Dodd-Frank to Be Complete in December

    According to Bloomberg News, financial regulators have reported that new measures on the Dodd-Frank Act should be mostly complete by the end of 2013.  The law, created in 2010, was designed to prevent a repeat of the 2008 worldwide credit crisis.  Among the new rules are tougher leverage requirements for eight of the nation’s largest banks, a risk-based capital surcharge for systemically important banks and the Volcker rule to ban proprietary trading by banks.  FDIC Chairman, Martin Gruenberg has stated that he’s seeking a Volcker rule that ensures the banks’ ability to perform underwriting “market-making” functions in less liquid markets.…

  • Mergers and Acquisitions/Exit Planning - QuickPress

    SEC Suggests Creation of Small-Business Exchange —Bloomberg

    Exchange Would Make it Easier for Companies to Go Public in the U.S. But Would be Limited to Experienced Investors Dave Michaels at Bloomberg reports that a Securities and Exchange Commission panel suggested that an exchange limited to small businesses should be created. The exchange would make it easier for companies to go public in the U.S. but would be limited to experienced investors better able to assess the risks involved with lower disclosure hurdles.  The Panel said the exchange should be limited to sophisticated investors, which it didn’t define.  More:

  • Litigation Consulting - QuickPress

    Afraid of Being Sued? 4 Ways to Keep Lawyers at Bay —Inc.com

    Here are four surprising ways to protect yourself in a law suit and keep legal fees to a minimum. Kevin Daum at Inc. advises:  “Shakespeare said, “First kill all the lawyers.” Maybe this seems a tad aggressive, but then again, for most people the last thing you look forward to is someone showing up at your door with a subpoena. Whether a lawsuit is business related or personal, the thought of engaging an attorney for protracted litigation can strike fear into a person’s heart.”   Not only is there emotion and argument to contend with, but the sheer agony of…

  • QuickPress - Valuation/Appraisal

    Proposed CFPB Rule Requires Lenders to Provide Free Appraisal Reports

    New Rule Intended to Help Inform Mortgage Applicants of How Value Is Determined  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released Wednesday a new proposed rule that would require mortgage lenders to provide home loan applicants with appraisal reports to determine how the value of a property was determined, reports Tory Barringer at DS News, an outlet that focuses on the mortgage default servicing industry. CFPB proposed the rule in response to a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that requires creditors to provide mortgage applicants with a copy of written appraisals and home value estimates. The newly-proposed rule would require that…

  • Litigation Consulting - QuickPress

    Dodd–Frank and Privately Held Companies

    The Wall Street Journal Law Blog says big regulatory changes are under way:   “Dodd-Frank is Sarbanes-Oxley on steroids. It’s an exponentially greater volume of regulation,” says Margaret Tahyar, a Davis Polk partner. The “sheer number of rules still in the pipeline makes it almost inevitable agencies will miss an increasing number of deadlines over the next year.” The Dodd-Frank law has 849 pages, compared with 66 pages in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a 2002 law that overhauled accounting rules following the Enron scandal. The landmark Glass-Steagall Act, which created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and barriers between commercial and investment banking…