AI vs. the Three Lines Model

Three Lines

Anyone who enjoys pondering the future of the internal audit and compliance professions may want to take note of a debate that erupted online last week about the Three Lines of Defense. It’s a fascinating discussion about how artificial intelligence might affect the Three Lines model, including whether AI might render the whole idea obsolete. …

Read More

Fines Cut for Ex-Wells Fargo Execs

wells fargo

U.S. banking regulators settled charges with two former top audit executives at Wells Fargo for their oversight failures during the bank’s fake accounts scandal of the 2010s, cutting the millions in fines the two men were facing by more than 90 percent. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced the deals late last…

Read More

Brace for Change, Internal Audit

internal audit

The Institute of Internal Auditors is holding its annual global conference this week in Washington, D.C., which of course means publication of a long, ponderous study about the current and future state of the profession. This study’s findings, however, point to some deeper truths about the internal audit profession that merit attention. Let’s take a…

Read More

PCAOB Alert on Company-Produced Evidence

pcaob

The PCAOB has published fresh advice for audit firms about how to evaluate data and reports provided by their client companies. Internal audit teams might want to take note, since such PCAOB “advice” has a habit of soon becoming new demands placed upon you by your auditor. The report, blandly titled “Inspection Observations Related to…

Read More

Accounting Controls: A Hollywood Tale

accounting controls

Sometimes the importance of internal accounting controls can be a little hard for compliance professionals to grasp, but fear not! A crazy tale from Hollywood this week gives us a great example of why internal controls matter and what can go wrong when they’re not working properly. The tale comes from Tom Hollander, the fairly…

Read More

SOX Costs Drop; Struggles Don’t

sox compliance

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs fell for many companies last year, according to an analysis released this week — although time spent on SOX compliance work actually rose, suggesting that many companies are struggling to implement automation technologies even as demands from their audit firms keep rising.  In other words, as usual, SOX compliance is a bit…

Read More

Another Example of AI’s Issues

AI

If you’ve been following news about artificial intelligence lately, then by now you may already have seen this: an Asian-American computer scientist at MIT, who uploaded a picture of herself into an AI tool and asked it to make her look “more professional.” The software turned the woman white. The computer scientist in question, Rona…

Read More

A Closer Look at SOC Audits

audit

Anyone involved in cybersecurity or privacy compliance knows that one handy tool to assess your vendor risks is a SOC audit. Now, at long last, we have a report that explores an important question: Just what do all those SOC audit reports actually examine, anyway? The report comes from CBiz MHM, a mid-sized accounting and…

Read More

NY DFS Strikes Again on Cyber Fails

cybersecurity

New York state regulators are at it again, serving up yet another enforcement action over poor cybersecurity practices that can serve as a quick case-study for the rest of us trying to figure out a sustainable way forward on cyber compliance issues.  The company in question this time is OneMain Financial Group, a publicly traded…

Read More

IIA Unveils Proposed New Standards

audit

Calling all internal audit enthusiasts: the Institute of Internal Auditors has released a draft of proposed new standards for the profession and is calling for public comment on the material. So if internal auditing is your career or you deal with internal auditors in some other capacity, put on your thinking cap and download a…

Read More