When the US pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, approved the compensation of the top executives at seven troubled financial institutions, he insisted that they all appoint an independent director as the board chair rather than the CEO.

In short, while any tax credit for new jobs is bound to involve some unnecessary government expenditure, a proper design can substantially restrict the ability of employers to game the system. Moreover, the cost of the tax credit can be dramatically reduced to the extent that the new jobs go to workers currently drawing unemployment benefits. It makes more sense to incentivise companies to hire the unemployed than to pay those same people not to work.

Investment professionals, take note. Congress is seriously debating legislation that would significantly expand the coverage of the Investment Advisers Act, empower the SEC to make rules on advisor compensation and increase the likelihood of lawsuits against advisors.

A year ago this week, when the world seemed to be falling apart, the US government took the bold and unusual step of pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into some of the country’s biggest banks in an effort to save them – and the global economy.

Now a year later, we’re still trying to figure out if it was the right decision, how will we pay for it and how should we handle such a crisis in the future.

by Tim Reason. Only the biggest U.S. companies should bother adopting the international financial reporting standards written by International Accounting Standards Board, the former chair of the SEC’s advisory committee on financial reporting says. By Tim Reason, CFO.com | US October 29, 2009