European companies are expected to rush to comply with new whistleblower protection rules only when they take effect in December, meaning workers are not adequately protected for any disclosures they make in the meantime.
Neil Hodge
Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal issues for a wide range of publications in the United Kingdom and United States.
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Petrofac fine fallout: Penalty too light for SFO to claim success?
Petrofac’s relatively low penalty for multiple bribery offenses might encourage companies to take their chances when faced with the choice of a possible criminal conviction or cutting a deal with the Serious Fraud Office, legal experts warn.
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Grant Thornton UK fined $3.2M for Patisserie Valerie audit lapses
Grant Thornton UK has been fined £2.34 million (U.S. $3.2 million) by the Financial Reporting Council for failures in its audits of collapsed café chain Patisserie Valerie between 2015 and 2017.
Posted inEthics & Culture
CMA’s Green Claims Code latest effort in greenwashing crackdown
Companies have until the end of the year to stop making misleading claims about the green credentials of their products and services or face regulatory action, the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority has warned.
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Big Four mishaps in U.K. underscore need to challenge auditors
Companies should question their auditors throughout the audit process, particularly in the wake of a spate of recent enforcement actions in the United Kingdom targeting the Big Four and other large firms for audit deficiencies.
Posted inEurope
WhatsApp GDPR fine fallout: EDPB actions shift enforcement landscape
Experts weigh in on the Irish Data Protection Commission’s €225 million (U.S. $267 million) GDPR fine against WhatsApp, which saw the European Data Protection Board rule to increase the fine total and compliance obligations.
Posted inEurope
German AML deficiencies in spotlight ahead of election
A recent raid by German prosecutors of the country’s finance and justice ministries has once again put a spotlight on Germany’s apparent failings in tackling financial crime.
Posted inEurope
U.K. signals divergence from GDPR with new data transfer approach
The United Kingdom announced plans to strike independent data adequacy decisions with key countries—including the United States—as part of its post-Brexit economic strategy.
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
U.K. audit breakup plan hits snag without Big Four support
The Big Four audit firms have refused to back a U.K. government plan to break their dominance of the market by forcing them to share work with smaller competitors to give them a foothold.
Posted inEurope
Weathering the storm: Why FinTech compliance failures persist
Experts weigh in with their thoughts on why FinTechs and cryptocurrency firms continue to have a bad reputation in terms of compliance.
