Financial Crisis

Banks Collaborating on Account Management Automation

May 01, 2012

The world's largest banks are working together to build a system that will standardize and simplify the management of their corporate clients' bank accounts. Known as eBAM, the system automates the process and uses common terms to manage accounts. It also simplifies creation of reports that aggregate and analyze data, makes it easier to audit the accounts, and improves security features for clients. Details inside.
 

Yet Another Mortgage Crisis Enforcement Task Force

February 07, 2012

During his State of the Union Address, President Obama unveiled the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group. It's just the latest in a string of government units tasked with investigating abuses that led to the financial crisis. So what will this group do differently that others, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, haven't done? That seems to be an open question. More details inside.
 

Economic Uncertainty Forces a Review of Accounting Assumptions

October 11, 2011

Uncertainty—in the form of downgrades to government debt, market volatility, and more—is forcing companies to rethink numerous accounting estimates and forecasts that affect impairments, valuation, receivables, and hedges, to name only a few. "It could have accounting implications for an ineffective hedge, or there could have been transaction costs for a hedge you didn't need," says Chris Wright of consulting firm Protiviti. More inside.
 

Procurement and Compliance Teaming Up to Manage Risk

October 04, 2011

Increasingly, companies are calling on compliance to help boost risk-management capabilities and fraud detection in the procurement department. The result is a more centralized and cross-functional procurement process. "Procurement is working closer with various departments—be it finance, compliance, or risk—to get an overall view of the enterprise," says Naresh Hingorani, global practice leader of supply-chain advisory firm Bristlecone.
 

Audit, Accounting Regulators Promise More Action

June 01, 2011

Tom Linsmeier of FASB, above, and Jay Hanson of the PCAOB both told Compliance Week 2011 attendees last week that new standards are on the way that (hopefully) will provide more clarity around corporate transactions to investors—but they also warned that good standards alone won't necessarily prevent future financial crises. More highlights from their keynote speeches inside.
 

PCAOB Hints at Major Enforcement Actions

April 05, 2011

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Chairman James Doty recently warned that audit inspectors had found several failures on audits of large financial companies and referred them to the board's enforcement staff. In many cases inspectors concluded that the audit firms involved had failed to support their opinions.
 

Big 4 Accused of Dereliction of Duty

April 04, 2011

A British parliamentary investigation report says that "complacency" and "dereliction of duty" on the part of the Big 4 audit firms contributed to the financial crisis. It also says that a "breakdown of dialogue" between bank auditors and regulators made the crisis worse and recommended further investigation into Big 4 dominance of the market.
 

Senate Probes Accountants' Role in Preventing Crisis

April 01, 2011

The Senate Banking Committee is exploring what role the auditing profession should play in preventing another financial crisis. It will summon top accounting officials to a hearing this week, including Leslie Seidman, chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and James Kroeker, chief accountant at the SEC.
 

Why Complexity Triumphs Almost Every Time

September 27, 2010

Well of course I went to see “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” this weekend. I’m the editor of a magazine that writes about securities regulation and ethical business conduct. How could I not go see it?Unfortunately, watching the film was a hardship assignment. It’s awful. The plot is a dull...
 

European Shareholders Lack Influence

September 02, 2010

The European Commission should not overestimate the role that shareholders can play in corporate governance improvement, according to a body that represents big pension funds.A recent Commission green paper on governance reform said institutional shareholders were partly to blame for the financial crisis because they hadn’t performed their ownership role...
 

Audit Standard Setter Calls for Skepticism

August 11, 2010

The body that sets U.K. external audit standards has issued a consultation paper aimed at finding ways of making audit firms more skeptical.The move follows criticism that auditors have been too soft on their clients, especially in the run up to the financial crisis, and were signing off their accounts...
 

U.K. Regulators Tell Bank Auditors to Be More Skeptical

June 29, 2010

Britain’s financial and corporate governance regulators have told external audit firms to be more skeptical, claiming they let down investors, regulators, and “society at large” by failing to challenge management in the run-up to the financial crisis.A joint paper from the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Reporting Council also...
 

Europe Starts Financial Sector Governance Reform

June 07, 2010

The European Commission has launched a review of the corporate governance rules followed by financial firms in its 27 member states.A wide-ranging Green Paper floats a series of potential governance reforms, including new duties for directors, better risk reporting, and a wider remit for external auditors.The paper argues, “Although corporate...
 

Regulator Pledges Intrusive Stance on Governance

January 29, 2010

The U.K. Financial Services Authority has admitted that it didn’t pay enough attention to the quality of corporate governance at financial firms prior to the credit crisis. The regulator said it had always put a lot of emphasis on good governance but added, “we recognize that our focus on the...
 

Canada Stops Governance Reforms

November 16, 2009

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Financial Instruments Disclosure Poor in Europe

November 16, 2009

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Europe Refuses New Financial Instruments Standard

November 13, 2009

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Briefing Compares G20 Exec Pay Rules

October 15, 2009

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FSA Clears Way for Greater Investor Scrutiny

August 19, 2009

UK regulator the Financial Services Authority has published guidance aimed at making it easier for shareholders to push companies to raise their governance standards.Institutional shareholders have been accused of not challenging companies about their corporate governance practices in the run up to the financial crisis. But they in turn have...
 

ACCA Warns About Political Interference in IFRS

August 03, 2009

Leaders of the G20 nations must underline their commitment to a single set of global accounting standards when they meet in Pittsburgh this September, or unease about the future of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will grow, according to a policy paper from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.The London-based...
 

IFAC Calls for Crucial Reporting Roadmap

July 27, 2009

The International Federation of Accountants has called on governments and regulators around the world to speed up their adoption of global accounting and auditing standards.After a summit of IFAC members in London the organization’s president, Robert Bunting, said it was “crucial” that national standard-setters establish roadmaps for the adoption of...
 

FSA Told to Report On Pay Code Compliance

July 10, 2009

The U.K. government has moved to add some extra kick to the Financial Services Authority’s efforts to stop banks and other financial firms using pay and bonus deals that encourage excessive risk taking.Last year the FSA published a draft code of conduct on remuneration that said firms must “establish, implement,...
 

Audit Committees Feel “Very Effective,” Despite Crisis

July 09, 2009

The quality of corporate governance among the world’s leading companies has been widely criticized of late, with some blaming poor boardroom practice in the financial sector for the global downturn. But audit committee members around the world feel they have been doing a good job, according to a new KPMG...
 

IOSCO Sets Disclosure Principles

July 03, 2009

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has weighed in on the global debate about making financial reporting more relevant by publishing a set of high-level guidelines on corporate disclosure.Its principles—aimed at national regulators thinking of reviewing their disclosure regimes—cover the kind of information that companies should release in their...
 

G8 Pledge Ambitious New Governance Standards

June 18, 2009

Finance ministers from the G8 countries have pledged to create a new international code of corporate governance, recognizing that poor board governance was a major cause of the financial crisis.Concluding a summit held in the Italian town of Lecce, the ministers published what they called “The Lecce Framework,” a document...
 

U.K. Investor Groups Pledge Harder Push on Governance

June 11, 2009

A group representing the U.K.’s four main institutional investor bodies has published proposals aimed at giving shareholders a stronger voice in corporate governance issues.The Institutional Shareholders’ Committee (ISC) accepted that the financial crisis showed a need for investors to engage with companies more effectively. Such shareholders have been criticized by...
 

Tweedie Defends Speed of IFRS Reforms

June 11, 2009

International Accounting Standards Board chairman Sir David Tweedie has defended the organization’s response to the financial crisis in front of a meeting of European ministers in Luxembourg.Tweedie told European Union finance ministers that he “took very seriously” their concerns about “the pace and substance” of IASB’s accounting standards reform. And...
 

ACCA Calls for Robust Governance Regulation

June 05, 2009

The regulation of corporate governance practices in the U.K. is “so light touch as to have very little impact at all,” according to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. There is “a very clear need for more robust regulation in this area,” the global accountancy body said.The ACCA said regulators...
 

IASB Promises Quicker Financial Instruments Reform

May 29, 2009

The International Accounting Standards Board has accelerated its project to replace controversial accounting rules on financial instruments.An update published after a recent board meeting says it will now publish an exposure draft on the classification and measurement of financial instruments by July 2009. Previously it said the proposals would not...
 

Europe Speeds Up Financial Regulation Reform Plan

May 29, 2009

The European Commission has accelerated plans to create a new regulatory framework for financial services firms. Announcing more detail on the trading bloc’s plans and a timetable for the needed legal changes, Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said he wanted it up and running next year, not 2012 as originally...
 

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