U.S. to Reduce Use of Monitors in Fraud Settlements
The U.S. Justice Department will put more consideration into whether or not a monitor is needed to oversee that a company is abiding by promises it makes in settlement agreements.
So What, Exactly, Is Tone at the Top?
Tone at the top is about humanity and not about words like compliance and regulation. It is about doing the right thing and we all know what that is in our hearts. It is about treating people with dignity and respect.
Internal Audit Blasts NASA’s Mars Rocket Program
An internal audit conducted by NASA’s Office of Inspector General’s Office of Audits found major problems with the aerospace agency’s Space Launch System (SLS), a program that is working on a rocket that could return NASA astronauts to the moon and eventually go to Mars.
Why Auditors Have So Much Trouble Finding Fraud
Most mid-size to large organizations rely on internal and external audits as a key preventative measure against fraud. The problem is, many CFOs assume that a routine financial audit will reveal financial anomalies that could be fraud. Unfortunately, quite the opposite is true. Audits almost never succeed at finding fraud: Read More
South African Power Co. Suspends Audit Chief over Suspect Transactions
South African power company Eskom suspended its head of internal audit, Molefi Nkhabu, as it investigates a series of suspicious transactions that he signed off on. According to a statement from the company, the questionable transactions “contain inferences or conclusions which had the effect of exonerating certain previous Eskom executives Read More
The Top 10 Concerns of Nonprofit Internal Auditors
Two leaders of BDO’s Nonprofit & Education Advisory Services practice, Ken Eye and Andrea Wilson, recently provided a list of “top 10 challenges keeping internal auditors up at night, and possible remedies to help continue the critical work.”
What Internal Auditors Need to Know About SEC Whistleblower Law
Internal auditors, compliance officers, and other “lines of defense” professionals are in unique positions to spot fraud and wrongdoing at the companies where they work. In most cases it is enough to report the problems to senior management or to the board of directors in situations where senior executives may Read More
Aussie Internal Auditors Push for Reforms
(PHOTO: Commonwealth Bank Branch office, by Maksym Kozlenko, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons) Still reeling from a series of scandals and failures, Australian internal auditors are demanding some changes that would give them more power to obtain information and more independence from management. According to a report in Read More
Report Provides Tips on How Internal Audit Can Improve Governance
Good corporate governance doesn’t happen automatically, even when a great board and senior management are in place. Effective corporate governance is the result of several elements and functions coming together, including organizational policies, processes, and cross-functional interactions. And internal audit has an important job to do to ensure those elements Read More
Using Forensic Analytics to Identify Rare, High-Impact Risks
n the abstract, a rare event is merely a low-likelihood occurrence. In the real world, that dry coinage can translate into significant disruption and far-reaching consequences. A rare event could take the form of a large-scale calamity — a deadly storm, an epidemic, a financial crisis. For a business, the Read More