compliance managers

Credit issues a big topic this year?

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:59:59 -0500

How do you control for potential credit-related problems? That's a good question right now, as the annual meeting season gets underway. It's something that executives and compliance managers probably ought to get a grip on. While we tend to think of the credit meltdown as a financial industry issue, it has spread rapidly. Bristol Myers Squibb recently wrote down $275 million to account for its subprime-related exposure. The CEO of PricewaterhouseCoopers says more nonfinancial firms are at risk. So how do you model this risk. There is likely no financial control for this sort of risk. But the fair-value issue has been out there for many years. Still, it's better to start talking about this now.

For more:
- here's a Financial Times article

Who to blame: IT guys or the finance guys?

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 06:59:59 -0400

We've hit on the idea that the IT guys and the finance/compliance guys have really got to work together to ease the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance process. If not, you could easily end up in a Boeing situation, where all out warfare breaks out. The tension is evident at many companies. To add fuel to the flames, a new study has found that the 65 percent of audit and compliance managers say their IT colleagues "lack the knowledge of risk and compliance issues to collaborate on identity and access management." But only 42 percent of IT pros said audit and compliance managers "lacked sufficient technical expertise to collaborate." So the haughty financial and compliance types take a dimmer view of the other side, apparently. Obviously, reducing the tension and getting the whole organization working together is a key challenge--easier said than done. The good news is that both sides seem to acknowledge the gravity of the issues.

For more:
- here's an article from Search Security.com

Pay closer attention to the database wars

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:01:38 -0400

The database wars have raged for so-long, many people roll there eyes when it comes up. But financial and compliance managers may want to pay attention to the much-touted launch of Oracle's Database 11g. Let's face it, you're being held accountable for lots of data these days. And the database guys will certainly be making marketing hay out of all this. As far as 11g goes, enhanced partitioning and storage-related features may be worth looking at, if only to stay abreast of what's out there. You can expect the Microsoft vs. Oracle war to rage. Sybase certainly senses the issue. It will be interesting to see who, if any, comes up with features that really make a difference. Article

Get a grip on 409A

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Compliance managers have a new executive compensation rule to comply with. In addition to your Sarbox burdens governing pay, you must now grapple with Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code, part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The goal was to curb the kind of abuses we've read about all too often. It covers a wide swath of pay issues and wields a mighty stick: Noncompliance could result in severe tax penalties. So you need to start worrying about this now. You basically have six months to make sure every pay element is either exempt or compliant. So you may want to raise this issue pronto and get your team together. Tips

Another cost issue: Rising pay for compliance officers

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Sarbox has been good for the stature of compliance managers. The term Chief Compliance Officer is becoming common. Recruiting has stepped up. And some now report to board committees. Unsurprisingly, pay is soaring. By one measure, compensation for compliance and ethics officers has surged 12 percent over the past year or so. Top ethics and compliance executives for global firms now earn a median annual salary of $206,800 and $132,100 in incentives. Interestingly, long-term incentives seem to have dipped a bit. Of course, with the elevated pay and stature comes a lot more responsibility, so no one is complaining that the extra pay is unwarranted.

For more on this:
- Here's a CFO.com article