Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Securities and Exchange Commission and the Environment

When all of those scandals hit the fan during the Enron blow-up days, Congress passed something called the Sarbannes-Oxley law, which was substantially telling publicly traded companies that corporate executives would be personally responsible for the accurate reporting of its financial resources. So enter into the mix the cost of company-owned contaminated properties and how to accurately report these properties in corporate financial documents.
Large companies like ConAgra, Safety Kleen, and Ashland Chemical have found themselves in big trouble with the SEC and some have faced criminal charges for their mishandling of financial records concerning their contaminated properties. Since Enron et al, the SEC is now turning its attention to environmental financial disclosures. The SEC has not come out with new initiatives, but corporate executives are now on notice due to the increased civil and criminal actions being brought by the SEC for those who do not comply with environmental reporting requirements.
Ceres Associates has the expertise to help corporations with FIN47 reporting obligations, and with accepting environmental liabilities under fixed price remediation programs. The undisputed knowledge king when it comes to understanding all three: environmental accounting practices, the legal part of environmental accounting practices, and environmental remediation is Gregory Rogers. Mr. Rogers is a CPA and a JD.