All right, we’re going to say it: Occasionally prosecutors go overboard. This is a big admission for Compliance Week, because like good reporters everywhere, we tend to be cynical people. When we hear the word “indicted” we assume “guilty” and wonder when the person in question will resign. Lately, however, we’ve seen two instances of […]
Matt Kelly
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
Amgen Extends Olive Branch in Executive Pay Wars
Amgen is trying a new tool to blunt some of the shareholder outrage over executive compensation: a survey. Tucked away on page 51 of the pharmaceutical giant’s proxy statement is mention of a page on Amgen’s website where shareholders can fill out a 10-question survey asking what they think of the company’s compensation policies. We […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: Compliance Week 2009: Meet, Strategize for Tough Times Ahead
Every April, I write an editorial announcing the lineup of our annual Compliance Week conference and encourage readers to attend. We’ve always had a stellar lineup of speakers and discussions, and this year will be the same. But I’d be foolish to pretend anything else about this year is the same. We are presenting this […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
A Teaching Lesson From SEC’s Own Internal Controls
News of poor internal controls at the Securities and Exchange Commission always gets a rueful chuckle from compliance and financial reporting executives everywhere. Thus Compliance Week is happy to deliver yet another dose of SEC schadenfreude. The agency’s inspector general just published a report on SEC pay practices, uncovering numerous lapses in judgment in the […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
The Confusing Cross-Over Between ERM, Internal Audit
Another week, another study lamenting the angst-filled uncertainty of the internal audit department. The latest dispatch comes from the Institute of Internal Auditors, which has published a survey of more than 500 auditing executives at large U.S. companies. The 15-page report contains the usual useful tips, on how to run your department more efficiently (read: […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
The Sorry State of Congress and Fair Value
Let me be sure I remember things correctly: Last fall, Washington was worried about the Europeans watering down accounting rules in the face of political pressure, right? I ask because last week we witnessed the crisis over fair-value accounting rules devolve into some sad mixture of The Godfather and an accounting textbook. The banking industry […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
IFRS Adoption, in the Deep Freeze Still
Financial Executives International has just published a new report on the state of adopting International Financial Reporting Standards in the United States. It’s worthwhile reading, especially for anyone skeptical we can adopt IFRS here by 2014. Your suspicions will be validated. The report starts with several pages about the proper way to plan for conversion […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Our Media Empire Continues Its Expansion!
Note to all the New Media fanatics out there: Compliance Week hears you. Hipsters that we are, Compliance Week has started its own Twitter feed to provide a more frequent stream of updates and pithy observations about compliance and corporate governance news. For all you uninitiated, Twitter falls somewhere between a blog and a wire […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: Under Pressure: The Life & Times of the Modern Compliance Officer
I recently had the pleasure of moderating a roundtable forum in New York on supply chain compliance, and the debate turned to a theme I often hear at these discussions: How far should your compliance program go to please government regulators? On one side were the realists, arguing that no compliance program can stop all […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Compliance Week Conference Update
Do you thirst for fame? Looking for a chance to strut your compliance expertise in front of your peers? (Not a bad idea, considering the precarious job market these days.) Well, Compliance Week has just the opportunity for you. We’re planning the agenda of our annual conference coming in June, and we’re looking for a […]