Editor column

Citation

Davis, H.A. (2006), "Editor column", Journal of Investment Compliance, Vol. 7 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/joic.2006.31307daa.001

Editor column

We start this issue with two views of recent SEC regulatory and enforcement actions since Chairman Cox took office a little over a year ago. Nicolas Morgan, Edward Totino, and Perrie Weiner express skepticism that Mr. Cox will lead the commission in the direction of lighter hedge fund regulation. Jedd Wider outlines the current status of numerous issues raised by the recent DC Circuit Court decision against the SEC requirement for hedge fund adviser registration. The next two articles provide two views on where the job description and role of the chief compliance officer (CCO) stands today, three years after adoption of, and two years after the compliance date for, Rule 38a-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, also known as the Compliance Rule. Michael Rosella and Domenick Pugliese observe that successful CCOs tend to focus on organizing and orchestrating the compliance efforts of numerous people throughout the organization and tend to avoid direct supervisory responsibility over day-to-day activities of other employees. Thomas Majewski suggests ways a CCO can make an organized effort to avoid inherent conflicts of interest, including the one that arises because the CCO is usually an employee of the adviser. Then Scott Thomas and John Jaye point to the SEC’s recent scrutiny of mutual fund performance fees and provide guidelines for a mutual fund to review how its performance fees are structured. Charles Gittleman and Russell Sacks summarize a recent NASD proposal to modify its rules that cover underwriting in cases where the underwriter and the issuer have conflicts of interest, which may become more frequent as financial institutions become more global. David Brodsky follows with a comprehensive update on the status of the corporate attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine, cautioning that these protections have been put under severe strain by government policies to root out corporate criminality and a related increase in vigilance by the corporate audit function. Over recent years, we have featured numerous articles on the need for a systematic firm-wide approach to compliance. Kevin Ludwick closes this issue by addressing the importance of automating the collection of required data for compliance. We welcome comments about the journal and contributions of articles by compliance experts at any time (email: HDRESEARH@aol.com; Tel. 1-202-328-7074).

Henry A. DavisEditorJames A.Tricarico JrConsulting Editor