Articles | Compliance Week – Page 280
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Congress’ Year-End Tax Package Has Something for Everyone
Companies have some work to do as they are closing their books on 2015 to tally up the benefits of the annual year-end tax package from Congress and determine how they will reflect those in their tax filings and financial statements. This week, CW accounting writer Tammy Whitehouse looks at ...
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The Silver Lining of Sharing Data on Cyber-Risks
After many months of debate, President Obama finally signed the Cyber-Security Information Sharing Act into law. The question businesses are asking: In practical terms, is it good news or yet another cyber-security-triggered migraine? While concerns abound, notably around privacy issues, companies may still find plenty to appreciate in the legislation ...
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Why Is Treasury Cracking Down on Big, Cash-Only Real Estate Transactions?
The real estate sector has remained an Achilles’ heel in anti-money laundering efforts by U.S. officials. Concerns that all-cash purchases of residential properties may be used to hide and launder illicit assets has prompted the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to demand that title insurance companies report the beneficial owners behind ...
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Bad News for Banks: More Regulatory Risk Is Coming, With a Political Twist
Banks can look forward to a 2016 with additional regulatory risk, with rules layered upon rules, heightened capital requirements, and cyber-security casting an ever-darkening shadow. Even political risk is a reason for concern; With a presidential race underway, calls for breaking up big banks, and reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, are ...
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New Accounting Standard Provides a Host of Potential Changes for Financial Reporting
Accounting Standards Update No. 2016-01 is here, and its impact on how to classify and measure financial instruments will mean different things to different companies, especially when it comes to setting valuation. But with a lack of universal impact, this update will require everyone to take a look at their ...
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Systemic Cases Dominate EEOC Enforcement
Image: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission achieved record enforcement results in 2015 and shows no signs of letting up this year. The good news is that employers now have a leg up in defending EEOC claims where they had little to no leverage before. “The EEOC’s focus on systemic investigations ...
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Mitigating Cyber-Threats From the Inside Out
As attacks on corporate networks become more common, companies are getting more adept at protecting their most valuable assets against cyber-threats outside the company, but it’s the insider threats that continue to elude many. Inside, we walk through the difficult part of insider-threat programs: not just creating the program and ...
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SEC Pushed Toward Creating New Board Composition Disclosures
Image: As businesses become more risk-prone and globalized, investors are demanding that fresh blood be infused into boards. So too are legislators with a desire to leverage SEC disclosures as a tool to bolster the ranks of directors and embed cyber-security knowledge. These efforts place a focus on board composition, ...
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New Sentencing Guidelines Could Alter Fraud Prosecutions
Image: Several important changes to the federal Sentencing Guidelines could drastically reduce the sentences imposed for violations of fraud and antitrust laws, even as the Justice Department heightens its focus on prosecuting individuals in corporate misconduct cases. “Some of the changes in the Sentencing Guidelines are a step in the ...
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SEC Watch: No Respite on Regulatory Reform in 2016
If the SEC had hoped that clearing its plate of most Dodd-Frank Act and JOBS Act mandates would make 2016 a year to focus on other initiatives, well, Washington has other ideas. The agency will be busy with a new round of rulemaking thanks to the FAST Act, plus ongoing ...
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FCPA Enforcement Trends to Watch in 2016
Image: A recalibrated focus by the government on individual culpability, expanding cross-border cooperation and prosecutions, and hordes of new whistleblower complaints are just a few upcoming enforcement trends that are expected to elicit some big compliance headaches in 2016. “The FCPA Unit, it seems to us, is working as hard ...
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Q&A: Perspective on New York’s New AML Requirements for CCOs
Image: Officials in New York have proposed a slate of new anti-money laundering regulations for financial institutions that fall under that state’s regulatory regime and supervision. It would require CCOs to submit annual certifications, with the threat of criminal liability for false or misleading statements, on the effectiveness of their ...
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Year in Review: Regulatory Enforcement in Europe
Image: For compliance officers in Europe, 2015 has been a big year. Aside from focusing on reporting wrongdoing and promoting a speak-up culture, watchdogs have been keeping compliance practitioners busy with a barrage of regulations that show no sign of easing. As compliance officers wonder to what degree the past ...
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Auditing World Braces: More ICFR Attention, Big Rule Changes
Image: Expecting a letup in the scrutiny of internal controls? Forget it: 2016 promises to be another intensive year for ICFR as all sides sharpen their understanding of the subject. “Internal control over financial reporting will remain on everyone’s radar,” says Cindy Fornelli, head of the Center for Audit Quality. ...
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It’s Time to Stop Thinking of Whistleblowers as “Nut Jobs”
A recent comment about whistleblowers largely being crank cases has raised the ugly notion that those who report wrongdoing are more often venting a personal grudge or prosecuting a baseless case, than actually raising a legitimate issue. But in this age of heightened governance concern, can such a cavalier attitude ...
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Managing Cyber-Risk in the Healthcare Industry
Image: Recent high-profile data breaches at several major healthcare providers have jolted the industry, which is trying to piece together better ways to manage the risks. “As opposed to an organization trying to invest more money in firewalls or other types of technical solutions to protect against an intrusion, at ...
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SEC’s Latest Extractive Payments Rule Still Leaves Unanswered Questions, Concerns
The Securities and Exchange Commission has once again proposed a rule requiring oil, gas, and mining companies to disclose payments made to governments for extraction rights. And, once again, legal teams are sharpening their pencils while covered companies sweat the details. An earlier try at the Dodd-Frank Act-required rulemaking lingered ...
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CFPB Critics Focus Fight on Data Collection
Fights over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are often focused on critics’ perceived lack of accountability and transparency. In recent weeks, those battles have doubled down on concerns about how the agency collects, protects, and uses data on consumers and financial institutions. CFPB foes say it is collecting more information ...
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The GRC Audit Quandary
A “quandary” is an interesting word meaning: a state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation. A quandary is also what many internal auditors find themselves facing when they audit GRC capabilities. This GRC Illustrated column from Compliance Week and OCEG helps auditors answer the ...
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Regulators Suggest It’s Time to Double Down on Internal Controls
Image: After nearly a year of moderating corporate gripes of excessive auditing driven by regulatory inspections, regulators say the answer is for companies to double down on their controls and use a little more muscle with their auditors. “Preparers are on the back end of the compliance funnel,” said Kevin ...