The Federal Trade Commission issued a final rule that will effectively ban all noncompete agreements nationwide. In a statement, the agency said it was “protecting the fundamental freedom of workers to change jobs, increasing innovation, and fostering new business formation.” “Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to finalize its rules on climate-change disclosures titled, “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” In an about face that the SEC began signaling last month, the Commission cut key provisions from the proposal, including a requirement to disclose Scope 3 emissions, Read More
Finding ways for employees to feel comfortable speaking up when something isn’t right is challenging in the best of times. But with the backdrop of uncertainty from a bumpy economy and pending merger, the Activision Blizzard Ethics and Compliance team faces unprecedented headwinds. We’ll walk you through a few key Read More
Compliance leaders are facing increased pressure to make the most of existing resources due to economic challenges and increased workload and complexity, according to a new report. The study, conducted by research and consulting firm Gartner, identifies three crucial compliance function trends playing out this year: tighter budgets, changing labor Read More
Just as in any other industry, the financial industry has its fair share of questionable behavior, and then some. For this reason, an alphabet soup of regulatory oversight — and accompanying fines for non-compliance, violations, and even fraud — exist to keep financial institutions in line. Regulatory bodies like the Read More
A new benchmark report closely examines what is and isn’t working with whistleblower hotline programs, especially as they concern fraud detection. Among the most troubling findings: 25 percent of organizations still don’t have a whistleblower program and among those that do, only 39 percent bother to audit them. The report, Read More
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) announced that it has censured Friedman LLC, a New York-based accounting firm, and imposed a $100,000 civil penalty for the firm’s failure to reasonably supervise two unregistered Chinese affiliate firms in audits of 12 different public companies with operations in China. Friedman consented Read More
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) has fined four audit firms for failing to file Form APs and, thus, failing to disclose who led specific audits for the firm and whether any other firms were involved in those audits. Failure to file Form APs in a timely manner is Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged audit firm CohnReznick LLP with improper professional conduct on audit engagements for two clients in 2017 and hit the firm with a $1.9 million penalty to settle the charges. The agency also charged three of the firm’s partners with improper conduct related to the Read More
A new report hopes to provide more clarity around the roles of internal audit and compliance, as they each work to fulfill separate but related duties without too much overlap and interference. The report, which is part of the Institute of Internal Audit’s Global Perspectives & Insights series, explains why Read More
