Image: Smaller public companies regularly lament that the costs of regulatory compliance are disproportionately large for them and serve little useful purpose for their investors. Sometimes those complaints aren’t worth more than a good eyeroll—but sometimes they have merit. This week, Editor Matt Kelly tells the tale of yet another compliance officer on the front lines, whose small company complaints about XBRL can’t be dismissed.
Matt Kelly
Posted inUncategorized
How Dodd-Frank Is Working—and How It Isn’t
Image: Congress is back in session, which means another round of political bickering over reform of the Dodd-Frank Act. Alas, Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly says, the law is already working as one would expect—that is, a little bit effectively, and a little bit stupidly. Compliance officers should not hold their breaths waiting for relief, and the public shouldn’t hope for much either. More of his thoughts inside.
Posted inFrom the Archive
Parting Thoughts From CW 2015
Image: The Compliance Week 2015 conference is now part of history. We had more than 560 compliance and audit professionals join us in Washington last week for three days to discuss all things ethics, compliance, audit, and risk management. Inside, editor Matt Kelly shares his thoughts on the most relevant lessons, biggest worries, and other observations that he heard this year.
Posted inFrom the Archive
Pre-Gaming the Compliance Week 2015 Conference
Image: The Compliance Week 2015 conference started Monday, and as usual there were more than 500 compliance officers, audit executives, regulators, and other leading thinkers talking shop on all things ethics & compliance. Check our website frequently for updates. Meanwhile, here are Editor Matt Kelly’s personal picks for the most interesting sessions we have.
Posted inInternal Controls
The Consequences of Baltimore and Body Cameras
Image: The protests and riots in Baltimore last week over police brutality make the question of body cameras for law enforcement ever more pressing. Are they effective controls against misconduct? Yes, Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly says. But when you consider what they say about the state of our ethical culture, he writes, they are anything but the ideal, useful tool we want. More inside.
Posted inFrom the Archive
Struggles on IT Strategy for Compliance
Image: Compliance officers struggle with IT; that’s not news. This week, however, we have new data that might illuminate why so many compliance departments can’t implement an IT strategy to meet their needs. Inside, Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly looks at which IT typically goes to what compliance tasks, and how you might escape the spreadsheets to find an IT strategy that makes compliance more valuable to the business.
Posted inUncategorized
Dodd-Frank: Remember the History Before Pushing Reform
Image: As the fifth anniversary of the Dodd-Frank Act approaches, we’ll hear more talk about whether the law needs reform; in fact, we already hear that talk in Congress. Before we go too far, Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly writes, we should remember what caused the financial crisis in 2008 and brought us here today—since ideas on reform are many, but good ideas are few and far between.
Posted inFrom the Archive
Uncomfortable Lessons to Draw From Germanwings 9525
Image: The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 demonstrates the most difficult choices in risk management that businesses, policymakers, and society ever have to make: how we handle people like Andreas Lubitz, the troubled co-pilot who deliberately crashed the plane—how we identify and handle persons who might potentially cause enormous damage to others. Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly has more inside.
Posted inFrom the Archive
Ethics Resource Center, ECOA Reborn as New Group
Two of the most well-known names in corporate ethics—the Ethics & Compliance Officers Association and the Ethics Resource Center—are gone, merged and reborn as the Ethics & Compliance Initiative, a new organization that will focus on research and certifying compliance programs. More inside.
Posted inData Privacy
Why Is Cyber-Security a Process? This Is Why.
Image: Everyone stresses the importance of looking at cyber-security as a process. Well—why, exactly? How does viewing cyber-security that way help compliance and audit executives? Because, Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly writes, cyber-threats are equally about building effective processes—to subvert yours. And until we appreciate the nature of cyber-risks, he warns, companies will not thrive in a world only getting more risky. Details inside.