FEI Weekly

January 26, 2018

Davos attendees planning to walk out of Trump’s speech, SEC introduces Diversity Assessment Report, an argument for ditching 401(k)s.

Will Davos Attendees Boycott President Trump’s Speech?

Quartz

A growing number of Davos attendees are planning to walk out of president Donald Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum this afternoon, several conference-goers told Quartz, to protest his remarks about African countries earlier this month. African CEOs said they’d like Trump to acknowledge that he said something inappropriate, and say he’s sorry.

Three Things to Know About Rev Rec in 2018

Accounting Today

Marisa Garcia, a managing director at CohnReznick Advisory, discusses the implications of the Revenue Recognition standard and what companies should look out for this year. Garcia points out that there three matters that the general business community should be aware of. One, in 2018 the public company and private company financial statements will no longer be comparable. Two, transactions that, on the surface, seem to be similar, actually could result in very different accounting under the new rules. Three, industry-specific guidance has been delayed, due to the fact that, while U.S. GAAP has been industry-specific guidance, IFRS is more principle based.

SEC-Regulated Companies Can Self-Assess Diversity Practices With New Report

Alpha Week

"This is an important step in our efforts to understand the diversity and inclusion efforts of our regulated entities, as well as promote transparency and awareness in this area," said Pamela Gibbs, Director of the SEC Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI). SEC-regulated entities will receive an email from OMWI inviting them to complete the Diversity Assessment Report online using a secure web portal.

An Argument for Ditching 401(k)s

EBN

Authors Teresa Ghilarducci and Tony James have developed a plan that would supplant 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts with mandatory Guaranteed Retirement Accounts. In the Ghilarducci-James plan, "state pension funds, traditional money managers, or a federal entity such as the Thrift Savings Plan" could bid to manage GRAs.

'Servant' Leadership is an Old Concept With New Significance

Entrepreneur

The concept of servant leadership is based on principles that are centuries old. But the actual term for a leader who upends the power pyramid to put others' needs first was introduced by Robert Greenleaf in his influential 1970 essay "The Servant As Leader" in 1970. Today, building a corporate culture has to start at the top, and this leadership strategy, which embraces the principles of empathy, awareness, community, persuasion, conceptualization, and growth, has been embraced by some of the world's most successful companies.