This Alert focuses on important recent regulations spawned by the financial crisis, and demonstrates how these policies, heightened enforcement activities, and penalties for noncompliance escalate the need for organizations to improve governance practices and related compliance and antifraud programs and controls. The crisis, the authorization of hundreds of billions of dollars in new federal funding, and a desire to strengthen regulatory controls, have combined to make scrutiny of potential fraud, waste, and abuse a mantra of the federal regulatory and law enforcement community. New standards for transparency and accountability provide a powerful incentive for companies to improve governance practices and related compliance and antifraud programs and controls.

Companies and their boards could face substantial new disclosure requirements as early as 2010 as a result of the amendments recently proposed by the SEC to rules affecting broad compensation policy and corporate governance disclosures.

If enacted by Congress, proposed changes to International tax law represent the most significant international tax reform in several decades, affecting the foreign operations of every U.S. company doing business abroad. Under existing U.S. tax rules, companies may defer paying taxes at rates as high as 35 percent on most types of foreign profits so long as that money remains invested overseas. The Administration proposals are intended to reduce incentives to invest overseas so that companies would be more likely to invest in the United States. The potential consequences of these proposals include a significant increase in the financial accounting and cash-effective tax rates of affected companies, accompanied by a corresponding reduction in net income and earnings per share.

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a far-reaching, comprehensive energy and climate change bill that would have profound effects on businesses across all sectors of the U.S. economy. The bill aims to cut U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels through a cap and trade system and would impose a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) of 15 percent by 2020. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 also includes economy-wide provisions for energy efficiency and alternative energy. This Public Policy Alert highlights the key provisions in the bill.

The historic overhaul of financial services regulation proposed by the Obama Administration June 19, 2009 provides broad frameworks for regulatory reform. Interconnected components in the Proposal may have sweeping implications for a variety of businesses as legislative details unfold. This Public Policy Alert will help you understand the potential impacts this ambitious proposal may have on businesses.

U.S. public companies could face significant new corporate governance and risk management requirements. Several bills pending in Congress would profoundly impact corporate governance and the role of corporate directors, who will want to consider these topics in their upcoming meetings. One of the most recent bills introduced in the Senate is known as the Shareholders Bill of Rights Act. Although the bill may not pass in its current form, it offers a window on legislative thinking. This bill calls for more board accountability and directly links failures in corporate governance with the financial crisis.