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While some companies are unfamiliar with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), PCAOB has recently been making its presence known. PCAOB is a private-sector nonprofit corporation created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), whose stated purpose is to "oversee the audit of public companies that are subject to the securities laws, and related matters, in order to protect the interests of investors ... " Section 101(a). Although some questioned whether PCAOB would ultimately have any real-world impact on accounting firms and the public issuers they audit, PCAOB has proven that it has the authority, ability and appetite to shape the heightened environment in which companies now operate following passage of SOX and its focus on restoring investor confidence in companies' financial reporting.
Law firms were late adopters of information technology. Differentiating a firm with technology was easy in those days: The firm simply had to have technology. Of course, there's little evidence that clients cared much about their firms' technology in those days. <br>In contrast, some clients today will base their choice of law firms in part on the firms' technology.
Features
The 2004 American Jobs Creation Act (AJCA) creates several tax breaks for businesses and made some other significant changes. This article highlights the more prominent provisions of the AJCA that affect businesses and individual taxpayers generally, and that to some extent have specific impact on law firms and other professional service providers.
The Internal Revenue Service has recently ramped up compliance and enforcement efforts with budget increases and enhanced resources. A lesser-known component of this revitalized enforcement is the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which is charged with regulating professionals ' mostly lawyers and accountants ' who practice before the IRS. OPR enforces ethical rules that govern practice before the Service, commonly known as "Circular 230," and may sanction practitioners who violate those rules. Because OPR matters can interact with the criminal process in many respects, conscientious white- collar practitioners and corporate tax counsel should familiarize themselves with OPR and its power over tax professionals.
The work letter that is attached to a lease, particularly an office lease, is a very important part of the lease document. Because it is an exhibit, and because many leasing professionals are not especially well versed in construction issues, the work letter is frequently given little attention during a lease negotiation.
Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.
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When considering a new lease for a single use property, generally the tenant of the property will want to consider its "exit" strategies at the time of the initial negotiation of the lease. Potential "exit" strategies may include: assignment of the lease, early termination rights and options to purchase the property. The last on the list of these "exit" strategies, options to purchase the property, often creates substantial business issues for the landlord and tenant, as well as drafting issues for their legal representatives. As a result, certain conceptual issues, set forth and discussed below, should be addressed when drafting an option to purchase the property.
The United Air Lines bankruptcy case has spawned several reported decisions, at the bankruptcy court level, the district court level and the circuit court level.
Is the landlord's right to cure a defect in the premises a perpetual one? The answer depends on where you are, what your lease says, and whether you have documented complaints and repairs adequately.
Features
Parties to all international contracts face different issues depending on whether the other contracting party is a privately owned enterprise or a State-owned entity. In both circumstances, the foreign investor may have legitimate concerns about the partiality the local judiciary may have towards parties from its own State if a contractual dispute arises and about the enforceability of any judgment against the local party. When the other contracting party is itself a Sovereign State, the foreign investor confronts the universal perception ' if not actual reality ' that a judiciary as a government entity may be controlled by the State and biased against the investor. <br>For international transactions, arbitration in a neutral forum offers the hope of reducing bias and avoiding parallel lawsuits in different countries.
