Making a Compliance Charter Work

charter

Compliance officers are always looking for ways to help the board of directors oversee the ethics and compliance function, so today let’s explore one way to do that by adapting an idea from the internal audit function: a charter that spells out board oversight duties. Specifically, the audit committee of the board is charged with…

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An Internal Governance Basket Case

governance

Talk about the gang that couldn’t shoot straight: One of the largest online gun marketplaces in the United States just filed its latest annual report, and the thing is an internal controls and corporate governance catastrophe. If you’ve ever needed an example of how not to manage your governance operations, read onward. The company in…

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Getting Started on Governing AI Issues

AI

Today we are going to keep looking at artificial intelligence and how corporations can get ahead of the risks thereof. Our previous post on AI was primarily a list of potential risks that could run rings around your company if you’re not careful; so what steps can the board and senior executives take to prevent…

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‘Our Boss Is a Jerk’ Risk

wrestling

Well here’s something you don’t see every day: a company declaring that one of its top leaders is so notorious for misconduct that his very presence at the business qualifies as a material risk to corporate success that investors should know about. So said World Wrestling Entertainment last week about its longtime and larger-than-life leader,…

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Duty of Oversight, Part II

duty

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…

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More Compliance Lessons From Elon

compliance

Elon Musk is the gift that keeps on giving, providing one example after another of how an executive can blunder forward without considering — or maybe just ignoring, who really knows — the ethics and compliance implications of his or her decisions. What lesson does the chief twit offer now? Read on. The immediate news…

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The One Super-Big Lesson of FTX

FTX

People keep asking me what lessons the compliance and audit community might learn from the spectacular collapse of cryptocurrency platform FTX Corp. The more I contemplate FTX’s shortcomings, however, the more I believe the answer to that question is simply “all of them.”  Just read the bankruptcy petition filed on Nov. 17 by newly named…

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Governance Gone Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

governance

Compliance officers talk all the time about ESG issues these days, but rarely do we have a chance specifically to explore the governance challenges that fall within that broad realm. Now we have three examples of governance gone wrong to consider, all within the space of one week. First is Tysons Foods, whose namesake CFO…

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SEC’s Push for Better Cyber Governance

board

Today I want to revisit the SEC’s proposed new rules requiring public companies to disclose more about their cybersecurity risks. Those plans would obligate companies to discuss how the board and senior management address cybersecurity risk at a strategic, enterprise level. What’s that all about?  In a previous post about the SEC proposals, I considered…

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Tesla’s Governance Issues Keep Coming

tesla

Compliance officers, today we all owe a thank you to California state labor regulators. Why? Because we’re always looking for examples of poor corporate governance to discuss, and those regulators served up a stunner at the end of last week: Tesla.  You may have already heard the basics. Last Thursday the California Department of Fair…

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