Search results for: policies and procedures
Survey: Pandemic Ordeal Boosts Corporate Culture
LRN has released the 2022 edition of its annual Ethics & Compliance Program Effectiveness Report, finding that most companies’ ethical culture has emerged stronger than ever thanks to two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. LRN polled nearly 1,200 ethics, compliance, and legal officers at corporations around the world, most of them with 1,000 employees or…
Read MoreESG and Supply Chain Transparency
A report released this week demonstrates the challenges ahead as large companies try to stand up ESG programs that include their often vast supply chains, since many small suppliers are still struggling to stand up their own ESG efforts that you larger players can rely upon. The report comes from ISN, which acts as a…
Read MoreAnother KPMG Cheating Scandal!
A bit of embarrassing news for KPMG from Down Under: the PCAOB has fined the firm’s Australia affiliate $450,000 for a cheating scandal among more than 1,100 employees there, two years after regulators sanctioned KPMG’s U.S. offices for essentially the same offense. From at least 2016 until early 2020, according to the PCAOB’s settlement order,…
Read MoreSurvey: Corporate Values Did OK During Pandemic
We have another report this week studying how corporate ethics and compliance functions weathered the pandemic-induced challenges of 2020 — and overall, compliance officers were pretty chuffed about how their organizations held firm to ethical values despite difficult circumstances. The study comes from LRN, which surveyed 650 ethics, compliance, and legal officers at organizations around…
Read MoreWhen Cybersecurity and IT Risk Converge
The other week I had the good fortune to speak on a webinar about IT risk management, and specifically how compliance and security teams should take more of a risk-focused approach to cybersecurity, rather than a compliance-focused approach. I’d like to unpack some of that today, because the challenges within a risk-focused approach are becoming…
Read MoreTrump, the Coup, and Corporate Ethics
Corporate America might be hoping that the difficult issues raised by President Trump’s attempted coup this week and the remaining days of his term will somehow pass them by. Too bad. What Trump has unleashed isn’t something businesses will be able to avoid. In several practical ways, dealing with Trump and his minions — both…
Read MoreEthics and Employee Surveillance
We have an interesting bit of research for compliance officers’ consideration today, exploring how companies can implement surveillance of employees working from home in a useful manner. Taking an ethical approach to the endeavor seems to be a key ingredient for success. The findings were reported in the MIT Sloan Management Review last week. Researchers…
Read MoreGoldman Sachs, FCPA, and Internal Controls
Now that we’ve all had the weekend to contemplate the massive Goldman Sachs FCPA enforcement action from last week (because that’s how we all spend our free time, right?), let’s return to an issue that’s been on my mind since the settlement was announced. How does a company strengthen an internal control, when that control…
Read MoreCampaign Finance and Corporate Compliance
We circle back today to postmaster general Louis DeJoy, who stands accused of pressuring employees in the 2010s to make political donations to his preferred Republican candidates. That’s a felony violation of campaign finance laws, and a fascinating glimpse of a compliance risk that can catch companies unprepared. DeJoy, you might recall, is already under…
Read MoreCompliance Improvements and Internal Controls
Now that we’ve all had a few weeks to sit with the latest Justice Department guidance about effective corporate compliance programs, let’s consider the next logical question. What must compliance officers be able to do, to deliver what this guidance wants to see? That’s been on my mind for two weeks, because these updates emphasize…
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