COSO’s effort to update its famed, but 20-year-old, framework for managing internal controls has sparked a deeper debate this spring about how companies should approach internal control overall, and whether significant changes are in order. What the final answers might be remains anyone’s guess. COSO published a draft of the update to its 1992 Internal […]
Risk Management
Posted inInternal Controls
International Compliance Programs: Think Globally, Act Locally
Squaring the need for a single global ethics and compliance program with the diverse range of cultures around the world has never been an easy task for compliance officers. As corporations keep moving to a global nature, it’s not getting any easier. To manage international compliance programs more effectively, many U.S. companies are taking a […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
IIA, RIMS Call for More Collaboration on Risk
Risk managers and internal auditors are starting to put their heads together to figure out how they can collaborate to create a better approach to risk and decision making. The Institute of Internal Auditors and the Risk and Insurance Management Society have produced a report, titled Risk Management and Internal Audit: Forging a Collaborative Alliance, […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Remaking Internal Audit to Focus More on Strategic Risks
Once upon a time, internal audit departments were busy enough with reviewing financial statements and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. But as company risks have exploded in recent years, the modern audit department has had to reconfigure its skills and priorities to match. Today’s internal audit department is—or at least, should be—focusing far more on the top risks […]
Posted inRisk Management
Risk Study Outlines Strategic Shift
Companies are learning to cope with the idea that volatility and uncertainty are the new normal, forcing risk-management departments—or the compliance and audit executives saddled with risk management simply because someone has to do it—to begin thinking in new terms. Risk management is continuing to evolve, says Ken Coy, U.S. leader for PwC’s governance, risk, […]
Posted inRisk Management
Many Struggling With Risk Disclosures
Two years after the Securities and Exchange Commission enacted new proxy disclosure rules requiring companies to reveal more about how their boards oversee risk, many companies are still struggling with how to effectively communicate aspects of their risk-management programs to investors. The most vexing question companies are struggling with right now is what constitutes a […]
Posted inRisk Management
A Holistic Approach to Diagnosing Corruption
In the long-running television drama “House,” the ornery and unconventional medical genius Dr. Gregory House masterfully diagnoses the sources of mysterious illnesses. The secret to House’s success stems from his ability to see the big picture, understand how all of a human body’s various systems interact with each other, and spot patterns that no one […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Rethinking Supply Chain Risk Management Strategies
March 11 marks the one-year anniversary of the Japan earthquake and tsunami—foremost a terrible loss of human life, and also a painful demonstration of supply chain risks in a globalized world. One year after those events, risk-management efforts are still trying to catch up. Many businesses probably aren’t as prepared for supply chain disruptions as […]
Posted inRisk Management
Third-Party Corruption Risk: What You Should Know
Want to know one of the surest ways to strengthen your organization’s anti-corruption capabilities? Start by discovering what you do not understand about the third-parties who help you do business abroad. The prevailing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and U.K. Bribery Act storylines focus on intensifying enforcement activity, but fail to drive home the fact that […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
SEC Calls for Companies to Disclose Europe Debt Exposure
Staff members at the Securities and Exchange Commission have compiled a list of tips for preparers based on issues they commonly flag in their routine filing reviews, many of them driven by the poor economy and the debt crisis in Europe. The SEC is looking carefully at how troubles abroad might affect companies and how […]