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
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged an affiliate of McKinsey & Co. with compliance failures including the misuse of material nonpublic information. The affiliate, MIO Partners, which offers investment options exclusively to current and former McKinsey partners and employees has agreed to pay an $18 million penalty to settle Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission appears to be making a new effort to pass rules that would require executives to pay back compensation that was obtained by hitting incentive goals that were later found to be false or inaccurate. The rule was included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Read More
Regardless of the geographic location, industry, or type of organization or program, opportunities for corruption present significant risks. Approximately six billion people around the world live in a country with a serious corruption problem. Worldwide, corruption puts businesses and governments at risk and affects organizations, private individuals, and public officials. Read More
The Financial Reporting Council, Britain’s audit regulator, admonished KPMG once again for conducting poor audits. The FRC says the Big Four firm’s banking audits are not up to acceptable standards for the third year in a row. And KPMG isn’t alone as a target of the regulator’s criticism: Out of Read More
