Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Asymmetrical Reporting

By Joseph A. DiRuzzo, III
January 31, 2015

As the regulatory state continues to grow with every passing year, businesses' obligations to provide information to, and file reports/forms with, local, state, and federal governmental agencies increases. Whether it be periodic reporting, e.g., IRS Form 1120, SEC Form 10-Ks, or upon the consummation of a specific transaction or event, e.g., IRS Form 8300, SEC Form 8-K, each filing represents an opportunity to incur a potential liability for incorrect or improper reporting. To that end, each filing also represents justification to the IRS to audit a business (to the extent that justification is needed).

It should come as no surprise that compliance costs make the list of corporate counsel's top concerns. However, reducing compliance costs often comes with an unseen price ' the cost of the audit and any attendant fines and penalties that result. Accordingly, corporate counsel is placed in the unenviable position of attempting to balance the unknown risk of future audits and contingent (and often speculative) governmental liabilities with known (and quantifiable) costs of short and medium-term governmental compliance. Indeed, before a governmental audit commences corporate counsel can be viewed as a “chicken little,” always attempting to minimize exposure that may never come to pass, while after a governmental audit starts, and there is an internal assessment that there was corporate shortcomings, corporate counsel is blamed with not doing enough. Given these mutually exclusive competing interests, what is a savvy corporate counsel to do?

This premium content is locked for LJN Newsletters subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later Image

The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.

Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations Image

This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.

The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs Image

The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.

Compliance Officers: Recent Regulatory Guidance and Enforcement Actions and Mitigating the Risk of Personal Liability Image

This article explores legal developments over the past year that may impact compliance officer personal liability.

Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.