News

Three steps to fitting compliance into long-term business strategy

Getting Global Ethics and Compliance on the Same Page

Building a single, global, culture is no easy task, especially at the sprawling, modern company that spans language, cultural, and political differences. During a panel discussion at the Compliance Week West conference compliance executives from Dell, Intel, and LRN exchanged ideas on developing a global corporate culture based on leadership, communication, and integrity. A summary of their discussion is inside.

Director Checklist: What Every Board Member Needs to Know

An increase in regulatory enforcement actions and attention to corporate governance issues is driving closer interaction between general counsels and board members. Recently, a panel of GCs discussed some practical ways to keep directors informed and offered a checklist of questions every board member should consider. More details inside.

ECOA Elects New Chair, Vice Chair

The Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA) has elected Andrea Bonime-Blanc and Jacqueline Brevard as its new board of directors' chair and vice-chair, respectively. Their two-year terms begin July 1.Bonime-Blanc and Brevard succeed James Berg and Jack Radke, respectively. Bonime-Blanc is general counsel, chief compliance officer, and corporate secretary for...

Parsing Counsel’s Duties At Closely Held Cos.

Although the principle that a corporation’s lawyer represents the company rather than the individuals who own or run the company is well-established, lawyers for small, closely held companies sometimes face challenges in determining whether they also have any fiduciary obligations to shareholders.

Rules & Expectations: What’s An Audit Committee To Do?

Serving as an audit committee member of a corporate board is among the most challenging roles in today’s business environment. Responsibilities have expanded, market expectations have heightened, and stress levels have intensified. Ever since The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was enacted—and related SEC regulations and stock exchange listing standards were codified—audit committee members have been struggling with their elevated roles. Even experienced directors, some of whom initially surmised there would be little change in their corporate behavior, have wrestled with issues of process and scope for their audit committees’ activities.

Global Warming Gets Hot; Ford To Issue Climate Report

Environmental issues continue to make inroads into the mainstream of the activist governance set. In fact, in a new survey just released by Mercer Investment Consulting, 73 percent of 190 regional investment management organizations predict that the incorporation of social and/or environmental corporate performance indictors will become mainstream within 10 years and 65 percent predict that positive or negative screening will be mainstream within 10 years.

Enhanced D&O Responsibilities For Compliance, Ethics

Effective Nov. 1, as a direct result of Sarbanes-Oxley’s mandate to the US Sentencing Commission, public company directors and senior executives will assume significantly greater responsibilities to ensure the existence of effective corporate compliance and ethics programs.

Q&A With Tyco SVP Governance Eric Pillmore

In the latest of our weekly Q&As with governance and compliance executives, we talk to the senior vice president of corporate governance at $36.8 billion manufacturing conglomerate Tyco International.