Professional standards are often interesting documents. Typically they offer a set of core principles that are intended to act as a beacon of light to guide behaviors and decision-making among the noble practitioners and workers who toil under the given occupation’s collective flag. These professional standards or codes of conduct Read More
The Department of Defense announced preliminary results of its first ever comprehensive audit earlier this month. It is likely the largest audit of any organization, public or private, ever conducted. The first Defense Department-wide audit covered $2.7 trillion in assets and $2.6 trillion in liabilities for fiscal year 2018, the Read More
The 2018 fiscal year was an active one for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Whistleblower program. In fact, the agency received more tips and paid out more in rewards than in any year since the SEC Whistleblower Office opened its doors in 2011. In its 2018 annual report to Congress, Read More
American Financial Group, Inc. (AFG) has hired Anthony W. Dunn as vice president, overseeing the internal audit function for the insurance holding company and its subsidiaries. Dunn has 20 years of experience in the insurance and financial services industry. Prior to joining American Financial Group, he served as senior vice Read More
Financial Executives International has released two new guides to help companies with internal controls during implementation of two new accounting standards: leasing and current expected credit loss (CECL). The guides, ICFR: Insights, Issues, and Practices, address internal control considerations for preparers’ adoption of the new standards, and were issued by FEI’s Committee Read More
It’s no secret that companies have been adopting a more data-centric approach to managing risk and compliance and to improving internal audit. They are installing fancy software packages and hiring data analytics experts to help them sift through oceans of valuable data to look for patterns and outliers. But some Read More
A new report is giving many global companies poor marks for their performance on protecting human rights. The study, conducted by the U.K. non-profit organization Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB), finds that 40 percent of the 101 large companies it reviewed failed to show evidence of identifying or mitigating human Read More
KPMG’s U.K. unit will stop providing consulting and tax advice to all of the large listed companies it audits after accusations that the practice has compromised its independence. The firm will lose up to £80 million in fees ($103 million), or 40 percent of its audit revenues. It is fighting Read More
If you’re not already automating your internal controls, you should be. The cost of the technology has come way down, while its capabilities have increased. Advanced controls automation is now accessible even to smaller organizations, and the return on investment is high, says Perry D. Wiggins, CFO of APQC, in Read More
As internal audit teams work on their audit plan for 2019, a new report sheds light on where some of the trouble spots are likely to occur for companies, and where internal audit may want to consider focusing its scrutiny and assurance efforts. Last week, technology research firm Gartner issued Read More
