Countrywide on the hot seat

Tue, 13 May 2008 06:59:59 -0400

Countrywide has no choice but to promise to do better. As the people increasingly question the wisdom of Bank of America's plans to purchase it, it faces criticism in other areas that get to internal control issues. At a congressional hearing, the mortgage giant said it will hire an independent auditor to review its treatment of loans whose borrowers have filed for bankruptcy and review claims of borrower abuse. It also will adopt a series of "best practices" issued by a national group of bankruptcy trustees. An interesting question: Is this a Sarbanes-Oxley issue? On one hand, the issue of abusive fees feeds revenue, which might bring it in-scope. You have to wonder how the auditor's assessed the issue. KPMG is its. As you recall, it took its lumps over the New Century implosion.

For more:
- here's some background from Dow Jones via CNNmoney.com

Templates for internal controls

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 07:59:58 -0400

Chances are your don't have a controller at your firm. Some of you don't have a CFO or dedicated compliance exec. But you do have some internal control issues. So how do you get started? In such situations, templates are not a bad idea. Bizmanualz, of St. Louis, has just released a product aimed at getting companies up to speed quickly when it comes to compliance. It offers a range of templates, editable processes that cover everything from risk management to audits to liquidity, and more. Something to think about. Release