After lengthy delays and attempts to kill the regulation, the Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule went in to partial effect in June 2017. Now, the fifth circuit court has struck down to the rule, after concluding that the rule “overreached” and was “unreasonable.”  While the ruling could end the Fiduciary Rule as law, it cannot erase the awareness the DoL raised nor can it stop market forces leading the business towards a more ethical place. Fiduciary Rule as Law May Still Exist Despite the ruling, attorneys note that the Department of Labor has many ways to respond. First, it could

Uncertainty defined 2016. Analysts tried in vain to predict the Fed’s actions on interest rates. Changing commodity prices defied investor expectations. And of course, the presidential election provided ample drama for the markets. In the midst of all that uncertainty, investors grew more and more aware of the need for real diligence. The market is increasingly aware that the accounting constructs reported by companies (especially those non-GAAP results) don’t always represent the underlying economics of the business. In 2016: Big institutional investors began pushing companies to tie executive compensation to return on invested capital (ROIC) instead of GAAP EPS. The