News Digest for October 5, 2006

There are 7 items… Sun Chief Schwartz Wants to Announce News on His Blog | Ex-HP chairwoman, 4 others face charges | Former HP General Counsel Escapes Charges | The Good and Bad About XBRL’s Future | Pepsi CEO says switch to XBRL data not costly | GRI new rules aim to boost “responsible” reporting | FTSE4Good Deletes Nine Companies on Environmental and Supply Chain Labor Standards

Sun Chief Schwartz Wants to Announce News on His Blog
Sun could serve as a sample case, testing the SEC’s resolve to bring an enforcement case over online disclosure now that more investors are using the Internet, said David Martin, a Washington attorney and former head of the SEC’s corporation- finance division.

Ex-HP chairwoman, 4 others face charges
Anderson said that each of the four charges could bring a maximum jail sentence of three years.

Former HP General Counsel Escapes Charges
“The short answer is, there’s no guarantee she won’t be indicted,” Little said. “And we don’t know what evidence she has. She may be talking to the AG. Or she may have provided exculpatory evidence.”

The Good and Bad About XBRL’s Future
The Securities and Exchange Commission will consider whether to require companies to use the XBRL programming language for their financial statements “sooner rather than later,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox during Tuesday’s second interactive data roundtable.

Pepsi CEO says switch to XBRL data not costly
PepsiCo Inc. spent a modest $5,000 in its first test of creating financial reports using a new data format that financial regulators believe will speed analysis of financial statements.

GRI new rules aim to boost “responsible” reporting
The new guidelines, dubbed G3 as opposed to the current G2 guidelines, should make GRI easier to implement. “It’s more user-friendly. The number of indicators has been cut to 79 from 97,” said GRI Chief Executive Ernst Ligteringen.

FTSE4Good Deletes Nine Companies on Environmental and Supply Chain Labor Standards
One interpretation of the relatively low number of deletions is that the standards lack sufficient rigor to hold companies accountable for social and environmental transgressions. However, another interpretation is that the FTSE4Good methodology of raising the bar to promote improved CSR performance is functioning as intended.

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