The Big Picture

2009 Predictions: Same old, same old

Another week, another report that compliance departments are going to feel the squeeze in 2009.This latest dollop of painful news comes from the Health Care Compliance Association and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, who published their 11-page survey of compliance officers last week. Among the more unpleasant findings: 85...

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. Please take the 2014 Anti-Bribery & Corruption survey on behalf of your company, to give us fresh data for this year. Details inside.

A Bracket-Based Approach to Ethics and Compliance

Any NCAA Final Four enthusiasts looking for some way to connect the basketball playoffs to ethics and compliance, rest easy—one of Compliance Week's many spies has found it. We were recently tipped off to the existence of the "March Madness Compliance Risk Assessment Bracket."

Thank You From Compliance Week

As faithful readers know, Compliance Week is headquartered in Boston and we are firm believers in the utter coolness and superiority of our city. We are heartbroken over the terrorist bombings yesterday at the Boston Marathon, and thank everyone in the compliance community who has been offering condolences at this terrible event.

A Quick Book Recommendation

I haven't had opportunity to do a book review in this column for many months, but one title recently caught my eye while I strolled through my local bookstore: Understanding China, by John Bryan Starr. (Hill & Wang, 448 pps., $17.95) What this says about my browsing habits, we'll leave unspoken—but anyone looking for a better grasp of why China behaves the way it does should start reading immediately.

A Rising Global Economy Lifts All FCPA Risks

Compliance officers, consider youselves caught in the crossfire of the Currency Wars.Those battles, of course, are being fought by finance ministers and central bankers around the world, as they all scramble to ensure that their own nation's currency is weak enough to inflate demand for its exports. We've seen China...

A Tale of Two Strategies for SOX Compliance

Not often do I see two interesting corporate announcements about Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in the same morning, but it happened earlier today. First, the Australian company Alloy Steel International told the word that it plans to de-register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Why? Compliance costs. Specifically the company singled out...

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...

A Trio of Compliance Thoughts

Sometimes so much is happening in the world of corporate compliance that it's hard to keep current; this would be one of those weeks. From the News of the World to the cost of lousy recordkeeping to the future of XBRL, Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly has his quick takes on all three subjects inside.

A Warning for LinkedIn Users: New Upgrade Is a Trap

Users of LinkedIn, beware—the company is quietly changing the format of its Contacts page to make sending messages to your connections much, much harder. If you see an offer to "upgrade" to the new design, don't do it.

Actions Have Consequences

From stealth risks buried in supposedly noble reform laws, to simple matters of personnel management—compliance officers can often find themselves surprised by outcomes they weren't expecting. This week, Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly ruminates on two headaches that better thinking could have anticipated, and might have avoided.

Advice for Future Compliance Officers on Getting Started

What are the most important steps a young new compliance professional should take to launch a successful career? Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly has been pondering that question lately, since a recent law graduate asked him for advice. His thoughts are inside, but more importantly—your thoughts are needed too.

After 12 Years, Moving on From Compliance Week

Matt Kelly has been in the news business in one form or another since he was 11, so to deliver a strong lead: He is stepping down as editor and publisher of Compliance Week at the end of the year. This week, he shares a few thoughts on the long, strange trip it has been for corporate compliance, Compliance Week, and Kelly himself. It has been a great ride. See inside.

FCPA Guidance, Then What?

While we all wait for the Justice Department to issue its fabled new guidance on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, let's pause for a moment to consider a few other questions. Why is the Justice Department doing this? Why now? And what happens to FCPA enforcement after the guidance is published? Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly muses on some possible answers inside.

All a-Twitter Over the JOBS Act, but Where Is the Real Risk?

Heavens forefend! Twitter filed a confidential registration statement last week, so we mere mortals aren't privy to how much money the startup isn't making! The governance purists might point to that confidential filing as proof of flaws in the JOBS Act, but fear not, Compliance Week editor Matt Kelly writes—the law has even worse flaws than that. More inside.

Latest on Compliance Week ’13and Announcing More Events!

The Compliance Week 2013 conference is nearing the home stretch, and boy, do we have news for you about it. Inside you will see our new conference Website, plus our need for a few last speakers, and the latest details on our agenda. We are also thrilled to announce the launch of Compliance Week Europe coming in October, and Compliance Week West in November. Editor Matt Kelly has more inside.

Amazon, Data, and Selling Your Culture Down the River

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.

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...

AML and CFT Risks: No Easy Solutions

By sad coincidence, Compliance Week held its first-ever conference in Dubai earlier this week, and the conversation inevitably turned to sanctions, money-laundering, and terrorism funding—just days after 130 people were killed in the Paris attacks. Compliance officers must pay attention to those issues like never before, editor Matt Kelly says, and little of what we must do to fight the threat will be easy. More of his thoughts inside.

Analyzing Your Risks in the Banking Sector

Now that the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates for the first time in seven years, it’s as good a time as any to worry about risks in the banking system; and thankfully two different regulators—the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the International Organizations of Securities Commissions—have given us some fresh reason to fret, so let’s get to it, says CW Editor Matt Kelly.

And Here Come the Lawsuits

Compliance Week Editor-in-Chief Matt Kelly is in China. This blog posted by Compliance Week Publisher Scott Cohen:As expected, it hasn’t taken the plaintiffs bar long to leap down the throats of companies involved in the current financial meltdown. Merrill Lynch, for example, is being sued for grabbing onto the lifeboat...

Another Step Forward in Tackling Cyber-Security Risk

Dec. 31—COSO’s Internal Control — Integrated Framework talks a good game about being useful beyond financial reporting risks, but Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly has always wondered how that works in practice. Then came a nifty piece of guidance: a taxonomy of operational risks in cyber-security, published by the Software Engineering Institute, a division of CERT at Carnegie Mellon University. Combine that tool for risk assessment and COSO’s approach for risk management, he says, and cyber-risks get a little less scary. Details inside.

Compliance, Guns, & Diamonds:Another Tale From the Front

Yes, it's time again for another true tale of compliance gone wild. This week, a nameless banking executive tells of his visit to a newly acquired business unit. "The first sign of trouble was the gun in the Beauregard Room," he said. "That's really not something you should have in a bank." Then he found the serious non-compliance problems. Compliance Week Editor Matt Kelly has more inside.

Another Victory for the Surge Strategy

Compliance Week would not normally pay much attention to SOPA and PIPA, those two cutely named bills in Congress intended to fight Internet piracy, which had seemed destined for passage until users of the Internet revolted against the measures earlier this week. But how critics took down SOPA and PIPA—by a mighty display of force amassed through social media—bears careful watching.

Anti-Corruption Enthusiasts, We Would Like Your Help!

Calling all FCPA and anti-corruption enthusiasts, Compliance Week needs your help! Compliance Week and Kroll Advisory have teamed up to undertake a major survey on corporate anti-corruption programs, and we're asking compliance executives to participate. Please take our survey now, and see more details inside.