Median CEO pay shrank YOY. The structure of the compensation packages changed somewhat as well. How would you design the pay package of your firm’s CEO? If you were CEO of a firm, what would be your “optimal” pay package?
INTEL changed its depreciation estimates, resulting in about $1.5 billion less depreciation. Is this in any way a “red flag?” If so, how?
Re: Crazy Eddie, what happened to gross margins over time? How might this be an indicator of accounting issues?
Re: Sunbeam, if you can put yourself in the audit partner’s position, do you think you might have been inclined to sign off on the engagement, notwithstanding the knowledge of the accounting issue?
Re: Sunbeam, what was Dunlap’s nickname? What are “cookie jar” reserves? How could the Sunbeam issues have been prevented?
Re: CalMicro, what are some of the indicators that may have suggested that “something” was amiss in the accounting?
Re: WorldCom, can you recreate the journal entry that took “line costs, fees paid to lease portions of other companies’ telephone networks, out of operating-expense accounts where they belonged and tuck them into capital accounts”?
Re: MicroStrategy, how did the national office of PWC learn that there may be “issues” with the financial statements that had been approved by one of its own partners?
Pro forma (non-GAAP, adjusted) earnings are much higher than GAAP-compliant earnings. The GAAP gap is widening. Should something be done about this?
Companies make up their own metrics to define success, continuing trend of non-GAAP measures. What do you think about this? Is it “ok”?
Should bankers’ bonuses be held back for 3 years in case a clawback is needed? Should it be 5 years? 10 years? Who should be included in the withheld bonuses? What do you think could be some of the unintended consequences of holding back bonuses?
Excellent points raised in this article. What are the implications for firms seeking relatively cheap credit? Are the days of borrowing (cheaply) to buy back stock coming to an end? Should capital use be regulated? Will it politicize credit?
We’ve seen this before, namely firms using non-GAAP earnings measures that make firms look better than they do under GAAP-compliant earnings. Reg G covers how firms may present non-GAAP measures. So, why is this a newly urgent problem? In your opinion, should anything new be done?
Can you describe why the average DB plan is only 78% funded as of 2/16, whereas it was 95% funded at the end of 2013?