Brannen in Brief

The efforts of a Washington-based conservative think tank, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) to bring down the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) were thwarted by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

As the Presidential election draws closer, the conversation around the water cooler or in workplace blogs tends to stray into the generally verboten political arena, which can lead to serious problems for senior executives or managers who air their views too vocally.

If you're an outstanding finance executive or manager at an oil and gas company or business processing outsourcing organization there's good news for you on the compensation front. But if you're an average performer working in a non-growth industry, such as banking or retail, your pay next year will likely keep you barely ahead of inflation.

The recent arrests of the people responsible for the massive identity theft that compromised 40 million credit and debit card numbers over an eighteen-month period in 2006 and 2007 puts the need for improving data security -- and disclosure and reporting of security breaches -- back on the front burner.

The comment period for a Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposal that would require companies to account for the potential cost of ongoing litigation came to a close last week on the heels of a Wall Street Journal editorial that lambasts the notion that the change would be a benefit to shareholders.

Investors' ire over abuses in executive compensation seems to have subsided now that most companies have met complex new disclosure demands from the SEC.

Investors are "mad as hell" over failures in product safety relating to toxic chemicals -- and they're not going to take it anymore.

The ability to work well with others is a harbinger of success in professional life, according to recent surveys.

It looks like 401(k) sponsors and participants are finally coming into the home stretch in the race to obtain clearer fee disclosure.

The Senate may soon vote on a pay discrimination bill, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, that allows victims of pay discrimination to bring charges when they have enough information to support their suspicion rather than requiring a victim to file a suit within 180 days of the occurrence.