A recent annual survey on the state of the internal audit profession provides new evidence that internal auditors are looking to redefine their role in how organizations assess and manage their risks. A study of 2,000 internal auditors in late 2009 revealed assessing risk for the board of directors is among the more common activities […]
Risk Management
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Risk Standard Comments Tread into PCAOB Process
As audit regulators review comments on their reworked proposal for seven new risk assessment standards, they’re also getting some pretty forthright advice on how to write audit rules. Even the U.S. Government Accountability Office has weighed in on where the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board may be inviting trouble with its latest attempt. The PCAOB’s […]
Posted inRisk Management
RiskMetrics Launches Successor to CGQs, Dubbed GRId
Companies and institutional investors take note: RiskMetrics Group is launching the successor to its Corporate Governance Quotient on proxy research reports, dubbed Governance Risk Indicators (GRId). Instead of scoring companies on governance relative to their industry and index as with CGQs, the new methodology will give an absolute score based on an assessment of four […]
Posted inRisk Management
RMG Posts FAQs on Policies and New Proxy Disclosure
RiskMetrics Group has published some guidance for companies, in the form of three frequently asked questions, about how its voting policies may apply to some of the disclosures required under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new proxy disclosure rule. The rule adopted by the SEC in December, which includes new disclosure about risk-management oversight, “risky” […]
Posted inRegulatory Enforcement
SEC’s Schapiro Details What’s Ahead For 2010
More crisis-related cases and more rulemaking, lots of it, are on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s agenda in the months ahead, according to the agency’s chairman. Highlighting some of the recent mortgage-related, pay-to-play cases, accounting fraud, and insider-trading cases brought by the SEC, its chairman, Mary Schapiro, promised more to come. “The pipeline is full […]
Posted inRisk Management
What’s Worrying Risk Officers in Financial Sector
Last week I had the privilege again of hosting a Compliance Week editorial roundtable, this time gathering a dozen chief risk officers in the financial sector to hear their thoughts on the current challenges of risk management in their industry—which are more complicated than the risk management challenges in most other industries. As usual, we’ll […]
Posted inRisk Management
SEC Posts C&DIs on Proxy Disclosure Enhancements
Consider it a holiday gift from the Securities and Exchange Commission: The staff of the Division of Corporation Finance has posted new guidance for companies on transitioning to the recently approved proxy disclosure enhancements rule. The five new Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations posted Dec. 22 comprise the staff’s interpretations of how the rule’s effective date […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
PCAOB Revamps 7-Standard Package on Risk Assessment
Based on initial comments to seven proposed standards on assessing and responding to risk, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has reworked the package and is asking for public comment on the revisions. The board unanimously approved the revisions suggested by the staff of Chief Auditor Marty Baumann and agreed to put them out for […]
Posted inRisk Management
SEC Oks Tweaked Proxy Disclosure Enhancements for 2010
Those tasked with drafting proxy disclosures take note: The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved proposed amendments to its proxy disclosure rules, with some notable changes from the July proposing release, that you’ll have to incorporate into your 2010 proxy disclosures. The SEC, in a 4-1 vote, okayed proposed changes to the disclosures companies are […]
Posted inRisk Management
Standard Chartered Overhauls Governance
Standard Chartered, the banking group, has overhauled its boardroom structures in an effort to improve its corporate governance. The bank is going to split a board committee that covers audit and risk issues into two new bodies. A risk committee will oversee the management of the bank’s key prudential risks and will review the effectiveness […]
