Most savvy corporations already have strict policies about what employees can and cannot do at their workplace computers, but the stakes for not enforcing those policies and properly investigating misuse are rising. In one recent case from New Jersey, a company was sued by the victim of child pornography that a worker had on his […]
Technology
Posted inTechnology
Battling The Online Threats To SOX Compliance
Once upon a time, compliance executives didn’t need to worry about the big bad Internet all that much. In the old days, protecting corporate data meant not losing floppy disks or reels of tape. And as corporate networks cropped up in the 1990s, IT security went medieval, erecting the digital equivalent of ramparts and moats […]
Posted inTechnology
Editorial: XBR Hell: The SEC Tries To Dump Its Problems On Public Companies
My goodness, the Securities and Exchange Commission is pushing XBRL hard. Listening to Chairman Christopher Cox and reading the Commission’s related releases, you’d think they had found the Holy Grail of financial reporting. But it ain’t. XBRL, if you haven’t heard, is shorthand for “eXtensible Business Reporting Language.” Basically, it’s a “tagging” language, in which […]
Posted inTechnology
‘Foundational Controls’ For IT Systems
A new study says businesses struggling with controls over IT systems should focus on a select number of “foundational controls” that can make the greatest improvement in a company’s operating and security performance as well as meet regulatory requirements. Conducted by the Information Technology Process Institute, the study identified 21 controls that should be the […]
Posted inTechnology
Building Compliance Efforts With IT Roadmaps
With the heightened focus on corporate governance in general and compliance in particular, companies are weighing more than ever the potential effect of technology on their compliance programs—both to get the job done, and to make the job more complicated. The blueprint to see how technology can help or hinder compliance efforts is a “technology […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Beyond Delete: Intelligent Email Policies
Corporate email retention policies continue to be driven by fears of litigation, leading many companies to adhere to strict “save it until you can delete it” procedures. But more nuanced alternatives exist for companies that want their email policies to be motivated more by business needs than legal risks. Kennedy “Some companies just don’t get […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Spreadsheet Controls, Without Going Crazy
Companies trying to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are finding that one of the toughest—and yet most essential—areas for establishing controls over internal processes and procedures isn’t even required under the law: spreadsheets. BNSF Railway recently went through the process. The company, a subsidiary of the $13 billion Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., […]
Posted inData Privacy
Managing Privacy Compliance As A Public Company
Driven by increased regulatory scrutiny, a spate of headline-grabbing security breaches, and a subsequent flurry of state legislation, privacy issues now sit high on the list of concerns that keep corporate executives awake at night. Bender The amplified focus on privacy issues has companies scrambling to comply with a slew of increasingly complex privacy regulations, […]
Posted inTechnology
SOX Rollback Bill Detailed; SEC And Korea; XBRL
On the heels of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision that all public companies will be subject to the standards of Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley, Congressional lawmakers responded with a legislative bill to make compliance with the internal controls reporting provision voluntary for some companies. Feeney U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., along with 16 co-sponsors, […]
Posted inBoards & Shareholders
As Savings Grow, E-Proxy Services Boom
Paperless proxies are saving corporations millions of dollars. At Automatic Data Processing alone, the $8 billion outsourcing giant says its customers save more than $700 million annually by using ADP to communicate with their shareholders electronically, eliminating the cost of printing and mailing materials. And as ADP racks up profits from the business, competitors are […]