Blogger Gautam Ghosh posted a brief discussion on how social software could affect companies and their brands. I think this is an interesting topic, and I wish Gautam had discussed his views on it a bit more.

Many of us have seen websites dedicated to employee complaints. Some employees and ex-employees post legitimate gripes with the companies, while others appear to merely be trying to stir up trouble or give a company a bad reputation.

At some point, I think companies need to take action to stop untrue and misleading information from being disseminated. However, I don’t know what that point is. With the internet providing a certain cloak of anonymity, I wonder what companies can effectively do to protect their good names and brands.

[tag]Yale University[/tag] has been [tag]subpoenaed[/tag] by three federal agencies seeking information about the school’s use of [tag]research grants[/tag] over the past decade. The agencies seeking information are the Defense Department, the National Science Foundation and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Earlier this year, the [tag]Office of Inspector General[/tag] for Health and Human Services said that Yale inappropriately billed expenses related to a $1.7 million stem cell research grant. The audit raised questions about the amount of time Yale employees devoted to the grant, and found over $193,000 in unallowable costs incurred in connect with the grant, among other things.

The school’s president, Richard Levin, said that Yale has hired a consulting firm to upgrade their [tag]accounting system[/tag] and practices.

The shutdown of New Jersey’s government by Governor Jon Corzine means that Atlantic City’s casinos must close. The state has no budget, as an agreement cannot be reached on the governor’s proposed 1% sales tax increase. The courts have ruled that the 12 casinos must stop taking bets as of 8:00am Wednesday because they cannot operate without state gambling monitors who are furloughed as part of the shutdown.

The governor is proposing a 1% sales tax increase (moving from 6% to 7%) in order to help close a $4.5 billion budget deficit. That increase would cost the average New Jersey family about $275 per year.

Since a budget cannot be adopted, the government has been shut down and all non-essential workers have been furloughed. The only essential employees still working are state police, prison guards, child welfare workers, and some administration staff.

[tag]Merge[/tag] Technologies announces the [tag]resignation[/tag] of director and interim CEO William C. Mortimore, Chief Financial Officer Scott T. Veech, and senior vice president of strategic business development David M. Noshay. Following the resignations, the companys stock price fell dramatically.

The company has also announced that it will not meet Nasdaq’s Friday deadline for filing federal reports. Failure to meet this deadline may result in the company’s delisting from the [tag]Nasdaq[/tag], although company officials said they will ask for another extension.

Merge has been conducting an independent [tag]investigation[/tag], and has concluded that all [tag]financial statements[/tag] from fiscal 2002 through fiscal 2005 are unreliable. All of these financial statements will be restated, and a significant portion of revenue recognized in those periods will instead be recognized in late 2005 and early 2006.

A related post about Merge is found here.