Dive Brief:

• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has settled charges against Virginia-based hospitality company Hilton Worldwide Holdings for failing to fully disclose perquisites and personal benefits provided to executive officers. 
• An SEC risk-based data analytics tool uncovered the violations — Hilton failed to disclose approximately $1.7 million worth of travel-related perquisites and personal benefits it provided to executive officers from 2015 through 2018, the SEC says.
• "We remain focused on ensuring companies provide required disclosures, including those relating to travel-related perks and personal benefits," said Stephanie Avakian, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "We will continue to use risk-based analytics to identify companies that fail to comply with the Commission's executive compensation disclosure rules."

Dive Insight:

The perquisites included the CEO's personal use of Hilton's corporate aircraft and executive officers' hotel stays. The order finds that Hilton failed to appropriately apply the SEC's compensation disclosure rules to its system for identifying, tracking and calculating perquisites.

The SEC's order charges Hilton with violating the proxy solicitation provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, Hilton consented to the SEC's cease-and-desist order, which requires Hilton to pay a $600,000 civil penalty.

Two weeks ago, the agency charged two other companies of accounting violations after catching their errors using its data analytics tool.