Image: For all a company’s efforts to preach anti-corruption compliance worldwide, one ugly fact endures: Too many people in too many countries still need to pay bribes simply to survive. Ethics training has virtually nothing to do with the problem, editor Matt Kelly writes. The real challenge is how we help to nurture economic systems that aren’t built on the necessity of paying bribes. More of his thoughts inside.
Matt Kelly
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Preparing for the Economic Risks That Come Next
Image: As Wall Street teeters and totters decidedly downward, and the prospect of recession seems much closer now than it did a week ago, compliance and audit executives everywhere should pause to think: What caused today’s disruptions? How is tomorrow’s economic climate likely to affect you? Inside, editor Matt Kelly offers three thoughts about how to stay ahead of the turbulent times closing in.
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More Compliance Shop Talk Coming Soon
Compliance and audit executives looking to kick back with your peers and debate the finer points of enterprise risk management, rest easy—Compliance Week is holding another of our executive roundtables soon, this time in Orlando on Sept. 15, on that very point. If you would like to attend, e-mail Editor Matt Kelly. Details inside.
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Amazon, Data, and Selling Your Culture Down the River
Image: Compliance officers like to talk about data, and about culture. This weekend, however, the New York Times published a brutal, brilliant portrait of corporate culture at Amazon.com and how awful today’s modern management of behavior can get. Inside, editor Matt Kelly dissects the unspoken and obvious: that data-driven management is great—right until it rots out your culture and turns your business into a miserable place to work.
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SCCE Announces 2015 Award Winners
The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics has announced the winners of its annual achievement awards, to be honored in October at its annual conference. Winners range from FCPA bloggers to building products companies. More inside.
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Aguilar Sounds Off on CCO Liability Again
Image: More shots fired this week in the continuing war of words at the SEC about whether the agency is unfairly taking enforcement action against chief compliance officers. This time, Commissioner Luis Aguilar defended the agency with a statement calling for the SEC to be more clear in its enforcement order—so people will not get the wrong impression that it is looking to scalp CCOs as part of its enforcement regime. Details inside.
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Flying Into Uncontrollable Regulatory Trouble
Image: At a theoretical level, effective compliance programs are fairly straightforward: Risky activity is found; control is implemented; regulatory compliance is achieved. In practice … well, compliance officers may have tougher times ahead. This week, Editor Matt Kelly takes the example of the humble unmanned drone and looks at a future of regulatory risks that can’t be tamed by any internal controls. How does a CCO handle that?
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Piwowar Jabs Again at Pay Ratio Rule
Image: SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar has taken the rare step of publishing a second statement opposing the newly adopted pay ratio disclosure rule (not to be confused with his first statement of outrage last week). The length and tone of the statement add fuel to the theory that his criticisms will become the blueprint for a lawsuit by other opponents of the rule. More inside.
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New OCC Task Force on Banking Innovation
Image: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is pulling together a team to consider the regulatory implications of advances in banking technology. “We’re still early in the process, so I can’t tell you exactly where we’ll end up,” OCC director Tom Curry said. He did float the idea of an office devoted to reviewing banking innovation. Details inside.
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SEC Confirms Expansive View on Whistleblower Protections
The SEC has published fresh guidance on who qualifies for whistleblower protections under the Dodd-Frank Act, essentially confirming the view that a person is not required to report misconduct to the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower to qualify for the expanded anti-retaliation protections under the law. Compliance officers should welcome the news as it protects those who first report via internal hotlines. More inside.