Companies working to assess and mitigate the risks that result from cloud computing just got some much needed help. The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) published new guidance on the topic last month. The paper, “Enterprise Risk Management for Cloud Computing,” leverages the principles of COSO’s “Enterprise Risk Management—Integrated Framework” document to help management and […]
Risk Management
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
FASB Calls for New Disclosures on Liquidity, Interest Rate Risks
The Financial Accounting Standards Board has proposed a new accounting standard to require companies to explain more to investors about where companies may face risks due to liquidity or interest rates. The proposed Accounting Standards Update is intended to draw out disclosures about exposures to certain risks related to financial assets, liabilities, obligations, and other […]
Posted inAnti-Bribery
Companies Struggle to Manage Third-Party Corruption Risk
Corporate compliance departments are increasingly uneasy about their exposure to bribery risks, and many say they are still not up to snuff when it comes to policing third parties and eliminating facilitation payments. According to a recent study from Kroll Advisory Solutions, 69 percent of 139 compliance executives surveyed say their companies have either high […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
The Metrics System: Measuring Compliance Effectiveness
Compliance officers are under increasing pressure to demonstrate to senior officers, their boards, and regulators that the compliance function works. At the Compliance Week 2012 conference, a panel of executives shared their approaches to measuring compliance program effectiveness. Measuring the effectiveness of a compliance initiative can help an organization better manage its risks and prioritize […]
Posted inInternal Controls
COSO Decides Against Integrated Frameworks, For Now
Despite calls for integration, the update to the COSO internal control framework will not include any effort to fold in the concepts of COSO’s Enterprise Risk Management framework. Marie Hollein, president and CEO of Financial Executives International, said the COSO board has considered and dismissed the idea of integrating COSO’s ERM framework into its Internal […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Risk-Management Failures Highlight the Need for More Scrutiny
Companies are showing improvement in risk management—but they’re not quite there yet. As recent problems at Walmart and JPMorgan indicate, companies still have more work to do on refining risk-management systems. And those high-profile cases have pushed companies to re-double their efforts. One of the top things companies are doing is to focus more on […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Best Buy Debacle Offers Lessons in Crisis Management
When Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn resigned suddenly in April over allegations of inappropriate personal conduct, it reminded many in Corporate America of the resignation of Mark Hurd from Hewlett-Packard, an episode widely considered to have been poorly handled by H-P’s board of directors. Yet now that the dust has settled on Best Buy’s CEO […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Electronic Information Deluge Putting a Strain on Records Management
Despite increased resources and good intentions, companies are still fumbling when it comes to executing a comprehensive information management program that balances the unique needs of physical and electronic documents. That’s the overarching conclusion of the latest Iron Mountain Compliance Benchmark Report, an analysis developed from more than 4,000 compliance risk assessments with input from […]
Posted inRisk Management
JPMorgan Loss Illustrates Difficulties of Adopting the Volcker Rule
When Troy Paredes, a commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission, addressed the audience at the “SEC Speaks” event in Washington D.C. earlier this year, he provided some insight into the difficulties of crafting the banking industry regulations against proprietary trading known as the Volcker Rule. “The notice of proposed rulemaking is lengthy, dense, and […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Maintaining an Effective Compliance Program
Companies everywhere know that demonstrating an effective compliance program is more important today than ever before. Where the real challenge lies is in assuring that the compliance department maintains the best structure possible as regulations change and as the business evolves. “One of the biggest challenges for compliance programs today, particularly some of your more […]
