Since enacting the Securities Exchange Act in 1934, Congress has repeatedly expanded the arsenal of the SEC to protect investors through enforcement actions. As a result, the SEC has steadily increased the number of enforcement actions. The author’s analysis of 1,563 accounting and auditing enforcement cases from 2008 to 2014 shows the most frequent securities law violations adjudicated by the SEC, the penalties rendered, and the person most often at the center of a case during this period. By studying and understanding the findings, accountants can learn where standard accounting practices failed or were subverted and how to best deter,…
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Quantifying the Risk Adjustment Depending on the valuation assignment facts and circumstances, the valuation analyst (analyst) may encounter a unique valuation problem: a problem that is well outside the ordinary scope of typical valuation issues. Unique problems provide the analyst an opportunity to develop thought leadership solutions in a manner that (1) provides value to the client and (2) assists the reader of the valuation report. These thought leadership solutions (1) can provide context to the identified problems and (2) can help to measure the effect of the problem on the subject investment interest.