Posts by Matt Kelly
2020 World’s Most Ethical Announced
Ethisphere announced its 2020 list of World’s Most Ethical Companies today, and corporate ethics and compliance officers know what that means: a barrage of emails from the CEO and board asking, “Why aren’t WE on that list???” This year Ethisphere honored 131 companies from 21 countries and across 52 industries. We can’t name all 131…
Read MoreWells Fargo, Part I: How This Happened
Wells Fargo reached a $3 billion settlement with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, to resolve civil and criminal charges into its unauthorized account scandal from the 2010s. Let’s take a look, since the facts here are a powerful example of how a company can engineer its culture and operations…
Read MoreLessons From Justice Dept Meltdown
You may have noticed that the Justice Department’s ethical reputation blew apart last week — shards of integrity streaking across the stage, leaving a miasma of unprincipled conduct looming over attorney general William Barr’s office. By now you probably know the story. Last week Barr intervened in the sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone, self-professed dirty…
Read MoreCompliance Jobs Report: Feb. 21
The Compliance Jobs Report this week has personnel moves at AMP, BMO Financial, Elanco, Pentax Medical, and more. We note a grandee internal auditing who will soon be an inductee to the Accounting Hall of Fame; a few moves in consulting world; and from education to automotive to Catholic relief — plus, as always, our…
Read MoreDiageo Lessons on Internal Control
Talk about going on a bender: the SEC just fined spirits maker Diageo $5 million for forcing its distributors to buy more liquor than they needed, and then neglecting to tell investors that Diageo’s inflated sales numbers would eventually dry out. In the world of funny numbers, what Diageo did is known as channel stuffing,…
Read MoreEthics & Compliance Random Thoughts
Radical Compliance is going on vacation for a few days, so it’s time for another collection of random thoughts about corporate compliance, audit, and risk management while I’m waiting at the airport departure gate. In no particular order… SEC chairman Jay Clayton raises a valid, difficult point when he says our corporate disclosure regime is…
Read MoreCompliance Jobs Report: Feb. 14
It’s a valentine to the compliance profession this week, with another huge Compliance Jobs Report! New hires at DraftKings, Cardinal Innovations, FLIR Systems, Pure and Natural Pet, and Analyst Hub, among many more. We also have some departures, a bunch of promotions — and our first-ever compliance career update from Greenland! I gather these bits…
Read MoreMore Tales of Retaliation Against Audit & Compliance
Alas, it’s time for more tales of retaliation against compliance and audit professionals. Several have streaked across my radar screen lately and we should always take note of them, since commitment to doing the right thing deserves praise and organizations trying to squelch speaking up should be called out. We begin with the Dallas Independent…
Read MoreReport: Compliance Resources Getting Tight
The law firm Hogan Lovells just published a report on compliance department budgets and staffing that paints a troubling picture on both fronts. Since budgets and manpower are crucial to any compliance officer’s success on the job, let’s take a look at the details. The broad message is simple. Businesses in North America and Europe…
Read MoreFighting Ethical Disconnects in Corporate Culture
Well, it’s happened again: managers at a large company did something contradictory to a good corporate culture and common social mores, and made the company look terrible to the public. U.S. Bank, welcome to the hot seat. You may have seen the article in the New York Times that started all this. Nicholas Kristof, a…
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