Michelle Leder, Columnist

These Stock Options Deserve the SEC’s Scrutiny

Spring-loaded grants allow executives to enrich themselves at the investing public’s expense. Regulators are right to get tougher on the practice.

Good move, Gary.

Photographer: Evelyn Hockstein-Pool/Getty Images North America
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In principle, corporate directors and executives, who naturally have privileged information about their companies, aren’t supposed to use it to enrich themselves at the investing public’s expense. Yet there remain many ways in which they can nonetheless do so.

In a seemingly obscure accounting guidance, the Securities and Exchange Commission has moved to shut down a significant one. It’s a good decision, signaling a tougher approach to insider trading more broadly.