Brannen in Brief

Congress considers whether the Big Three auto makers should be the next beneficiaries of government financial assistance.

Chief executive officers and other members of management at some of the world's big banks will forgo their usual mega-bonuses this year.

In his new book High Performance with High Integrity, Ben W. Heineman Jr., GE's former general counsel and senior vice president of public affairs, offers his take on the challenges faced by the contemporary corporation.

CFOs, more than any other C-title holders, have a vested interest in understanding the hearts and minds of corporate directors. Highlights of an annual survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Corporate Board Member magazine can help minimize guesswork about what board members think.

Companies that have been battered by the economic crisis may follow in the footsteps of General Motors, which announced this month that it would suspend its 401(k) match as part of its cost-cutting efforts.

The old saw "the more things change, the more they stay the same" might apply to the shift to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

This week’s Congressional hearings on regulatory reform in response to the nation’s economic tsunami included a hard look at the losses sustained by retirement accounts, the estimated total of which is a whopping $2 trillion over the past 15 months, according to expert testimony at one of the hearings.

Third-quarter earnings have, not surprisingly, been dismal so far and the outlook for Q4 is similarly bleak. The economy's recent turn for the worse leaves companies in virtually every industry scrambling for means to weather the storm.

Next month the Supreme Court will hear Wyeth v. Levine, a case that could shape product safety laws affecting everything from automobile makers to pharmaceutical companies.

Employees who participate in defined contribution plans are getting statement shock as the economic crisis shatters 401(k) balances.