All Compliance Week articles in Web Issue – Page 604
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Blog
Is Cobalt the Next Conflict Mineral?
Under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s conflict minerals rule, public companies are required to track the source of tantalum, tin, gold, and tungsten in their supply chains. A push is on to require similar measures for cobalt, with a call for additional supply chain due diligence made in a new ...
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Blog
Internal Controls Trump New Rules in List of Worries, KPMG Finds
According to a recent KPMG poll, continued pressure on internal control over financial reporting is the most pressing concern for financial reporting executives. Nearly one-third of 400 respondents, or 31 percent, said internal controls are at the top of their worry list beyond their basic financial reporting responsibilities. One-fourth, or ...
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Blog
Chariots of Fire
Hoverboards were this holiday season’s must-have present, but ongoing product safety concerns, patent infringement lawsuits, and even a regulator raid at a prominent electronics industry tradeshow all point to a product category that has been rushed to market in more ways than one, constituting a compliance failure that is as ...
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Blog
Deloitte Finds Shift to Full Retrospective Adoption of Revenue Recognition
Image: According to a recent questionnaire from Deloitte of more than 170 technology, media, and telecom firms, 38 percent said they were leaning toward or had firmly decided on adopting the new revenue standard following the full retrospective approach. That means companies would present three full years worth of financial ...
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Blog
2015 Interactive Timeline: A Year of Transparency
Whether it was the Swiss leaks scandal, the European Parliament’s formal adoption of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, or a movement to require multinational corporations to publicly report financial information on a country-by-country basis, 2015 was a year in which transparency became a watchword across Europe. Take a look at ...
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Article
Top Five Ethics and Compliance Failures of 2015
Same story, different year: pressure from senior leaders, a laissez-faire attitude toward bribery and corruption, and middle managers that neither practice nor value a robust culture of ethics and compliance all resulted in some of the biggest corporate faux pas of 2015. Inside is Compliance Week’s list of the top ...
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Article
Liability Protections Included in New Cyber-Security Law
You may have not even noticed it, but discreetly tucked into the massive omnibus spending bill signed into law last month is a provision that effectively makes it safer for companies to share cyber-threat information with one another—but critics argue the bill doesn’t go far enough to ease privacy concerns.
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Blog
EBA Consults on Draft Guidelines on Implicit Support for Securitisation Transactions
The European Banking Authority has launched a public consultation on draft guidelines on implicit support for securitisation transactions. The objective of the guidelines is to provide clarity on what constitutes arm’s length conditions and when a transaction is not structured to provide support for securitisations. The consultation runs until 20 ...
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Article
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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Blog
Non-GAAP Measures—The Pendulum Swings Back
Non-GAAP financial measures—or “pro forma” measures—are an area for which the SEC has had an oscillating view, when it comes to regulation. Over the last 15 years, we have seen the SEC become increasingly strict on how, when, and where non-GAAP financial measures can be used without incurring additional questions ...
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Blog
Mike Oxley, the FCPA, and the Fight Against Terrorism
When the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act became law years ago, it was never intended to be used as a tool to fight terrorism. But as recent terror activity has illustrated, corruption and terrorism go more than hand in hand; the first helps to create the second. And as we look ...
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Article
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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Article
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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Event
Roadmap for Profitably Moving your Client Accounting Services Practice to the Cloud
San MateoSan Mateo, CA 11111United States
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Blog
CAQ Chooses Path Forward on Identifying Quality Indicators
The Center for Audit Quality, which represents auditors, has issued a new report on its effort to pilot test its approach to defining audit quality indicators and its suggested path forward on how to identify the most effective way to define and then measure audit quality. The CAQ says it ...
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Blog
SEC Awards $700,000 to Whistleblower Who Was Company Outsider
Image: It took over five years, but we finally have a success story in the “professional whistleblower” area. The SEC has awarded more than $700,000 to an industry expert (a company outsider) who conducted a detailed analysis that led to a successful SEC enforcement action. Sean McKessy, chief of the ...
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Blog
SEC Adopts Rules to Meet FAST Act Mandates
The SEC has approved interim final rules needed to implement provisions of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act that revise financial reporting forms for emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies. The FAST Act, enacted by Congress last month, includes mandates to revise Forms S-1 and F-1 and allow emerging ...
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Blog
Consumer Group Protests Post-Settlement Tax Breaks
Goldman Sachs recently announced that it had reached an agreement in principle with the U.S. Department of Justice and others to resolve civil claims relating to the firm’s securitization, underwriting, and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities from 2005 to 2007. The $5 billion settlement has drawn the ire of U.S. ...
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Blog
Tesco’s Tone at the Top and the Myth of the Rogue Employee
Image: We often hear of a rogue employee who is really to blame for a major corruption scandal, but how often do bad apples really cause the problem? And how much is a wider corporate culture—perhaps even one that allows for, or encourages, rogue actors—a more likely source of problems? ...
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Blog
Macy's Names Controller and Chief Accounting Officer
Macy’s has elected Felicia Williams, who is currently senior vice president for enterprise risk and internal audit, as vice president and controller. She also will serve as chief accounting officer, effective June 1, 2016.