The surging stock market rally not only is repairing personal balance sheets and 401(k) accounts. It is also defusing the corporate pension crisis.

The funded status of the typical US corporate pension plan in February rose 0.4 percentage points to 88 percent, according to monthly statistics published by BNY Mellon Asset Management.    

Here is yet another reminder that job growth will continue to be slow for a period of time.

A new survey by Robert Half found that an equal percentage of chief financial officers expect to boost hiring full-time accounting and finance professionals as those who plan to reduce their job ranks.

A number of companies this week have disclosed in regulatory filings billions of dollars of potential losses from legal proceedings. 

Goldman Sachs Group, for example, said it could suffer "reasonably possible" losses of $3.4 billion from legal claims against the company.

A civil war has broken out in the US and the main weapon being deployed is envy.

The war is over Other People's Money. It has been raging for more than two years now and is threatening to escalate.

Weatherford International shook investors and Wall Street when it reported after the market's Tuesday close that it would delay the filing of its 2010 annual report after discovering a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting for income taxes.

The energy equipment and services provider said errors for the periods from 2007 to 2010 totaled about $500 million.

A Towers Watson survey found that companies are budgeting merit pay hikes of 3 percent for 2011. This compares with the average 2.7 percent merit increase awarded to employees in 2010 and is the largest merit increase since before the financial crisis when increases typically averaged 3.5 percent to 4 percent, according to the benefits consultancy.

Companies are also planning to provide some reinforcements for their overworked employees.

Federal regulators have charged the former treasurer of a private mortgage lending company for her role in a more than $1.9 billion fraud scheme and an attempt to scam the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Desiree Brown, the former treasurer of Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank, wire and securities fraud, which contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and TBW, according to US Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia.

It seemingly happens every Friday evening.

Federal regulators announce that some small bank cannot continue on its own and a rival is brought in to take over the assets and continue as if nothing had happened.

Tech companies are souring on outsourcing.

According to a survey of 100 chief financial officers at technology companies by BDO USA, LLP, just 35 percent said they are currently outsourcing services or manufacturing to companies outside of the US. This represents a 43 percent decrease from the 2009 high when 62 percent of companies were outsourcing and a slight decline from 2010 (37 percent).

The former chief financial officer of Freddie Mac will probably face civil charges for his role in the collapse of the mortgage giant.

Anthony Piszel abruptly resigned as CFO of CoreLogic, after receiving a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission staff in connection with certain disclosure matters during Piszel's tenure at Freddie Mac from November 2006 to September 2008.