Corporate Governance

So far in the 2023 proxy season, shareholder activists have shown more bark than bite. At companies including Walt Disney Co. , Salesforce Inc. and Bath & Body Works Inc., big-name activists have prepared to battle for board seats, only to quickly agree to truces. So far in the 2023 proxy season, shareholder activists have shown more bark than bite. At companies including Walt Disney Co. , Salesforce Inc. and Bath & Body Works Inc., big-name activists have…

The U.S.’s new tax on stock buybacks has created a potential pain point for foreign companies: Those with stateside subsidiaries may find they are subject to the 1% levy on share repurchases. As initially written, the 1% tax on buybacks, which went into effect Jan. 1, would hit foreign companies in limited circumstances. Guidance from the government released in late December, however, changed expectations about the potential impact on foreign companies, stirring comment letters from businesses including Danish drugmaker…

At Uniqlo’s Fifth Avenue store in New York, shoppers can checkout simply by placing their goods in gleaming bins of automated stations. Unlike the self-checkout process at many stores, customers of the casual apparel retailer don’t need to scan individual items or look up prices on a screen—they can simply drop their items in a bin and pay. This next-generation process is powered by radio frequency identification readers inside the checkout machines, which automatically read hidden RFID chips embedded in price tags. It is…

The unexpected revolt that has upended the planned breakup of accounting firm Ernst & Young is being driven by two longtime U.S. auditors who believe their part of the firm could end up weakened by a deal.John King and Frank Mahoney, senior U.S. EY executives, have emerged as key opponents to the firm’s plan for a worldwide split of its auditing and consulting arms, according to people familiar with the matter.  After a year of planning and tens of millions of dollars in costs, the split of the 390,000-person…

The salaries offered to U.S. accountants and auditors last year climbed at their quickest pace in recent years, but industry observers say increasing pay alone may not be enough to remedy a national shortage of accountants.Fewer people are pursuing degrees in accounting and starting new jobs in this area, resulting in more open positions for related roles and searches that take longer to complete. Accounting and auditing jobs have been long viewed by people in the profession as underpaid, undervalued and less dynamic than…

HOUSTON— Wael Sawan knows he is about to make some people very unhappy.The new chief executive of Shell SHEL 0.41% PLC is in the midst of crafting his business plan for the London-based energy giant, including whether to increase oil production. Doing so would please many investors looking to build on last year’s oil-and-gas bonanza, which produced record annual earnings for Shell.  But it almost certainly would generate howls of protest…

Salesforce managed to ease some activists’ concerns earlier this month when it posted strong fourth-quarter earnings. Photo: Cam Pollack/The Wall Street Journal…

Fleetcor Technologies is considering a breakup of its business. Photo: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/Zuma Press…

Silicon Valley Bank failed just 14 days after KPMG LLP gave the lender a clean bill of health. Signature Bank went down 11 days after the accounting firm signed off on its audit.What KPMG knew about the two banks’ financial situation and what it missed will likely be the subject of regulatory scrutiny and lawsuits.  KPMG signed the audit report for Silicon Valley Bank’s parent, SVB Financial Group, SIVB -60.41% on Feb. 24. Regulators seized the bank on March 10 after a…

The dueling—and sometimes conflicting—imperatives are expected to be core topics in Houston starting Monday when oil executives, climate hawks and government officials gather at the industry’s premier annual energy summit. For an industry accustomed to extreme cycles of boom and bust, the current environment is less binary and more complex than usual. Even as the biggest companies post record profits, huge questions linger.…