We advise clients on corporate governance and compliance standards and procedures. We act as the general advisor on governance matters for public and private company clients and nonprofit organizations, and we handle special assignments for boards of directors and their audit, compensation, governance, nominating and other committees. We understand that corporate responsibility issues facing companies are complex and require the consideration of numerous legal and business factors. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 imposed even higher standards and more responsibilities on corporate officers and directors as well as stricter oversight of auditors. Today, the issue of corporate responsibility takes on unprecedented importance for companies and their directors, officers and auditors. We have a thorough understanding of this law and the regulations being created under it, and we provide clients with the guidance necessary for compliance.
Our services include a broad range of compliance advice, guidelines, suggested best practices, and checklists and analyses of policies and procedures. We advise boards, directors and officers on their fiduciary duties and provide compliance check-ups to detect and prevent violations. Our clients rely on our guidance to establish effective methods of monitoring policy implementation and communicate up-to-date company policies to all employees — a key defense against liability. We are also experienced at conducting internal corporate investigations into various types of alleged or suspected misconduct.
We provide advice regarding employment agreements, severance agreements, stock options, incentive compensation, and other elements of executive compensation for publicly held, privately held and not-for-profit corporations. We also advise on fiduciary duties under corporate law and ERISA, including obligations with respect to employer stock, pension funding, delegation of fiduciary responsibility, bankruptcy-related matters and corporate opportunity issues. We advise clients on reporting and disclosing executive pay, transactions with executives and directors and responding to executive compensation proposals in connection with proxy statements.
Intelligent corporate financial planning can often reduce or even eliminate the financial challenges that many companies face from time to time. We work closely with corporate clients to develop comprehensive corporate financial plans that reflect both the realities of the business as well as the values and priorities of the company ownership.