Posts by Matt Kelly
SEC Nails Activision on Culture Oversight
Activision-Blizzard has agreed to pay $35 million to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company didn’t have adequate processes to warn investors about its poor corporate culture. The company also settled charges that it violated whistleblower protection rules. The settlement was announced Friday morning, and I fear that this case may…
Read MoreCompliance Jobs Report: Feb. 3
The Compliance Jobs Report keeps busting out! We have another big report, with news from Dartmouth College, Ericsson, Nvidia, Cloudflare, and many more — even some personnel updates from the regulators! Job leads this week in medical devices, electronics, and liquor; plus a new section tracking compliance layoffs. As always, thank you to all the…
Read MoreNIST Artificial Intelligence Framework
NIST has published its first-ever risk management framework for artificial intelligence, just in time to help risk and compliance professionals as your boards, senior management, and everyone else starts to wonder whether ChatGPT and similar AI-driven systems will take over the human race. Released last week, the framework is 48 pages long and no, you…
Read More2022 Corruption Perceptions Index
Transparency International has released its annual ranking of corruption levels in countries around the world, with Scandinavia and New Zealand leading as usual while the United States place a rather underwhelming 24th. TI publishes its Corruption Perceptions Index at the start of every year, and the index has become a standard reference work that compliance…
Read MoreDuty of Oversight, Part II
Today let’s take a closer look at that Delaware Chancery Court decision from last week that established a “duty of oversight” for corporate officers. It’s another evolutionary step in the oversight of corporate culture, which is always something corporate compliance and audit professionals need to watch closely. The decision involved the former head of HR…
Read MoreCompliance Jobs Report: Jan. 27
Another huge Jobs Report this week! We have news from Mimecast, Kraken, NBCUniversal, Xylem, and elsewhere here in the United States; plus a bundle of items from overseas. Also lots of work anniversaries to note, and job leads in healthcare, film, and toys. As always, thank you to all the compliance people sending me tips…
Read MoreA Double Whammy of Accountability
Holy cow! The compliance world had two big stories break within the last 24 hours: one about a Wall Street bank trying to hold employees accountable for good behavior, the other about the legal risks for corporate executives who don’t. We can start with the Wall Street bank, because everyone loves to pick apart what…
Read MoreHelp on Supply Chain Cyber Risks
I hadn’t noticed this until now, but we have fresh help for audit and risk managers worried about cybersecurity risks in the supply chain: CISA, the top cybersecurity regulator in the United States, has published a short guide on how small and medium-sized businesses can navigate that challenge. CISA released the guide last week —…
Read MoreMusings on ‘Aggravating Circumstances’
Today I want to return to the Justice Department’s new policies meant to encourage more self-disclosure of corporate misconduct, even from companies whose violations include aggravating circumstances. Those policies are a welcome step forward, but they create just as many questions for compliance officers as they answer. Let’s first review what these new policies are.…
Read MoreAnother Regulator Talks ‘Gatekeepers’
We’ve seen a lot of mess in the cryptocurrency world lately. Last week a leading voice on the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission called for one specific group to step up and do better with this bedraggled bit of the finance industry: gatekeepers. CFTC commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero, a Democratic appointee and head of the…
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