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Securities and Exchange Commission: Additional Actions Needed to Ensure Planned Improvements Address Limitations in Enforcement Division Operations

GAO-07-830 Published: Aug 15, 2007. Publicly Released: Sep 17, 2007.
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Highlights

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) ability to conduct investigations and bring enforcement actions for violations of securities laws is critical to its mission to protect investors and maintain fair and orderly markets. SEC's Division of Enforcement (Enforcement) is charged with investigating securities law violations; recommending civil enforcement actions when appropriate, either in a federal court or before an administrative law judge; and negotiating settlements on behalf of the Commission. The types of sanctions that Enforcement can seek on behalf of the Commission include monetary penalties or fines and disgorgements of the profits that individuals or companies may derive by having committed securities violations. While SEC has only civil authority, it also works with various law enforcement agencies, including the United States Department of Justice (Justice), to bring criminal cases when appropriate. In addition, Enforcement is responsible for overseeing the Fair Fund program, which seeks to compensate investors who suffer losses resulting from fraud or other securities violations by individuals and companies. Under the Fair Fund program, SEC can combine the proceeds of monetary penalties and disgorgements into a single fund and then distribute the proceeds to harmed investors. In recent years, Enforcement has initiated high-profile actions that resulted in record civil fines against companies and senior officers and in some cases contributed to criminal convictions. However, the capacity of SEC in general and Enforcement in particular to appropriately plan and effectively manage their activities and fulfill their critical law enforcement and investor protection responsibilities on an ongoing basis has been criticized in the past. Although SEC received a substantial increase in its appropriations as a result of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, questions have been raised in Congress and elsewhere on the extent to which the agency is using these resources to better fulfill its mission. Moreover, we have reported that aspects of Enforcement's information systems and management procedures could limit the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. For example, we found in 2004 that Enforcement faced challenges in developing the advanced information technology necessary to facilitate the investigative process. In addition, we reported in 2005 that the distribution of funds to harmed investors under the Fair Fund program was limited and that Enforcement had not developed adequate systems and data to fulfill its oversight responsibilities. Because of congressional interest in ensuring that SEC effectively manages its resources and helps ensure compliance with securities laws and regulations, Congress requested that we review key Enforcement management processes and systems and follow up on our previous work where appropriate. Accordingly, this report evaluates Enforcement's (1) internal processes and information systems for planning, tracking, and closing investigations and planned changes to these processes and systems; (2) implementation of SEC's Fair Fund program responsibilities; and (3) efforts to coordinate investigative activities with other SEC divisions and federal and state law enforcement agencies.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
United States Securities and Exchange Commission To strengthen Enforcement's management processes and systems and help ensure compliance with securities laws, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission should direct the Division of Enforcement and other agency offices, such as the Office of Information Technology or Office of the Executive Director, as appropriate, to establish written procedures and criteria on which to base the review and approval of new investigations.
Closed – Implemented
SEC's enforcement division has developed relevant procedures for the operation of the HUB as described in a recent GAO report (GAO-09-358). Specifically, Enforcement has now developed written procedures for review and approval of new investigations, which are included in a recently completed enforcement manual. The procedures address various steps in the investigative process, such as handling tips, referrals, and complaints; opening a Matter Under Inquiry, which can be a preliminary step toward opening a full investigation; and opening a full investigation. According to the procedures, the primary consideration for opening an investigation should be whether the inquiry has the potential to substantively and effectively address the potentially improper conduct at issue. Other key factors are the magnitude or nature of the violation, the size of the victim group, and the amount of potential or actual losses to investors.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission To strengthen Enforcement's management processes and systems and help ensure compliance with securities laws, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission should direct the Division of Enforcement and other agency offices, such as the Office of Information Technology or Office of the Executive Director, as appropriate, to establish written procedures that reinforce the importance of attorneys entering investigative data into the Hub, provide guidance on how to do so in a timely and consistent way, and establish a control process by which other division officials can independently assess the reliability of investigative data maintained in the system.
Closed – Implemented
SEC's enforcement division has established relevant procedures for the operation of the HUD investigation management system as described in a recent GAO report (GAO-09-358). To the extent that the Hub relies on the Case Activity Tracking System (CATS) information, there are already some processes for monitoring entry of information, because the CATS system, which Enforcement officials call their system of record, has controls on data entered into the system. This includes use of case management specialists, whose specific duties include entry of case information. According to Enforcement management, under the current implementation of the Hub, investigative staff are responsible for entering quarterly, narrative-style case updates into the system. Specifically, staff attorneys are to enter this narrative data into the Hub as part of quarterly case reviews that management conducts, plus other Hub-only information not kept in CATS. Enforcement management told us the formal control on entry of this data is that all staff are aware of the management reviews and that the Hub user guide directs that information should be updated at least quarterly. They said that ultimately, it is a manager?s responsibility to make sure the information indeed gets into the Hub system. The officials said that if the narrative case updates are not entered into the system on a timely basis as directed, this information, which is not quantitative data used to track items such as dollar amounts or caseload, is considered to be a low-risk area that will not compromise overall system quality.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission To strengthen Enforcement's management processes and systems and help ensure compliance with securities laws, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission should direct the Division of Enforcement and other agency offices, such as the Office of Information Technology or Office of the Executive Director, as appropriate, to consider developing expedited administrative and review procedures for closing investigations that have not resulted in enforcement actions and are no longer being actively pursued.
Closed – Implemented
SEC's enforcement division has made case closing a higher priority as described in a recent GAO report (GAO-09-358). SEC's a new enforcement manual encourages staff to close investigations when it becomes apparent that no enforcement action will be recommended. According to SEC's fiscal year 2008 Performance and Accountability Report, the division closed 1,355 cases in fiscal year 2008 "its highest annual total, according to Enforcement management" compared to 374 in fiscal year 2007, a 262 percent increase. Officials attributed this to the new guidance, new quarterly reports that list investigations that are 5 or more years old, and periodic conference calls and meetings to discuss closings and case status.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission To strengthen Enforcement's management processes and systems and help ensure compliance with securities laws, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission should direct the Division of Enforcement and other agency offices, such as the Office of Information Technology or Office of the Executive Director, as appropriate, to establish and implement a comprehensive plan for improving the management of the Fair Fund program, to include (1) staffing the new central Fair Fund office, defining its roles and responsibilities, and establishing relevant written procedures and (2) ensuring the consistency of and analyzing final accounting reports on completed Fair Fund plans.
Closed – Implemented
SEC has staffed the fair fund office and developed relevant fair fund reporting forms. (GAO-09-358). In February 2008, SEC announced creation of OCD, to handle disgorgements and Fair Fund activity, plus other collection and distribution functions, such as collection of delinquent penalties or disgorgements that are not part of Fair Fund plans, and investment of funds received. As of October 2008, 23 of 25 full-time positions earmarked for OCD had been staffed. Efforts were continuing to formulate policies and procedures for the office, in areas such as conflict-of-interest and ethics rules, as well as guidance for selection of consultants, distribution agents, and others who assist with distributions. OCD was envisioned as having agencywide responsibilities, but to date, has handled collections for the headquarters office in Washington and the Boston regional office only. For other offices, OCD advises on collections and distributions, and Enforcement staff remain responsible for collections and distributions in their respective offices. Finally, in response to our recommendation that SEC implement a plan for ensuring the consistency and analysis of final accounting reports for completed Fair Fund plans, Enforcement staff, with the assistance of the agency?s Office of Financial Management, have created templates to standardize reporting of final accounting for completed distributions and Fair Fund plans. SEC uses outside consultants for Fair Fund duties, such as identifying investors harmed in a particular case, or making payments to investors. The nature of such duties may vary by case type. With creation of the templates, SEC has taken a step toward collecting information to examine administrative costs.

Full Report

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Topics

Data integrityFederal fundsFinancial institutionsFunds managementInformation managementInteragency relationsInternal controlsInvestigations by federal agenciesInvestment companiesLaw enforcementProgram managementSecuritiesSecurities regulationPolicies and proceduresProgram goals or objectivesProgram implementation