Corporations always say they want to be ethical businesses—and then the markets and Washington get involved, and everything goes to pieces. That uncomfortable truth about ethics & compliance is very much on display these days. Let’s start with Caterpillar, whose senior tax and finance executives appeared before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations last week […]
Matt Kelly
Posted inData Privacy
More Struggles on Cyber-Security
Let’s talk about cyber-security risks. After all, everyone else is. The Securities and Exchange Commission talked about the issue for five hours last week, at its much-anticipated cyber-security roundtable. The Center for Audit Quality published guidance on cyber-security risks one day before the SEC’s confab, diplomatically but firmly stating that external auditors are not responsible […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
The Delicate State of Anti-Bribery Enforcement at the SFO
LONDON—The U.K. Serious Fraud Office knows it is in a delicate position these days. Still, that’s not to say the SFO is in a weak position, and compliance officers ignore that distinction at their peril. At least, that’s my impression after a recent interview with one of the agency’s top prosecutors: Ben Morgan, appointed to […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Politics of Overtime
Like many people, I looked at the New York Times this morning and saw the eye-popping (for followers of business news, anyway) headline, “Obama Will Seek Broad Expansion of Overtime Pay.” Oh lord, I thought, the conservatives are going to go crazy over this one. In truth, I’m hard-pressed to think of a more aggressive […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Corruption Comes Home to Roost
LONDON—And suddenly, within the space of a week, ethics & compliance officers have all the ammunition they need to tell cynics once and for all why eradicating corruption is so important. Here in the United Kingdom (where I am spending the week on business), the word “war” is on the front page of every newspaper […]
Posted inUncategorized
Speaking in Hints: More From SEC Speaks
The star of last week’s SEC Speaks forum in Washington was, of course, Mark Cuban—owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and bête noir of the Securities and Exchange Commission ever since he defeated the agency at trial last year over insider-trading charges. Cuban crashed the SEC Speaks forum on Friday and proceeded to give running commentary […]
Posted inData Privacy
Cyber-Security Takes Centerstage: Risks, Guidance, and Regulator Wrath
Several weeks ago I wrote about how boards and audit committees struggle to handle IT risks, and how compliance executives can help them understand such problems. The good news: compliance professionals themselves now have fresh guidance to understand cyber-security risks. The bad news: you need it. Let’s start with the new guidance. Last week the […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Long Road Ahead in EU Anti-Corruption
Last week the European Commission published its first-ever report on the state of anti-corruption programs across the European Union. If American compliance and audit executives want to understand how different the challenges in Europe actually are—if you want to appreciate the fundamental gulfs in how Europeans and Americans view corruption, and how to address its […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
2014 Anti-Bribery & Corruption Survey Launched
Calling all members of the ethics & compliance community, we need your help! Compliance Week and Kroll are conducting our annual survey of anti-bribery and corruption practices again. The Anti-Bribery & Corruption Report is a partnership between Kroll and Compliance Week to get a comprehensive view of corruption risks today and how global businesses are […]
Posted inData Privacy
The Audit Committee Conundrum: IT Risks
Audit committees are uneasy about IT risks these days. That’s one finding of the most recent report from KPMG’s Audit Committee Institute, and it should surprise nobody. IT risks—emerging technologies, IT projects gone awry, data security—are where audit committee members feel least comfortable with their knowledge of the subject, and with their ability to make […]
