Audit TrailAudit TrailAudit Trail is the official blog of Approva- tracking the latest news, opinions and trends in governance risk and compliance. Audit Trail provides visitors with informed views on issues that matter to finance compliance, and audit professionals. Articles
Wall Street?s Betting and Insurers are Sweating
2008-06-05 05:58:00 According to the folks at the Newseum, the biggest news today — at least, according to US newspaper coverage — is that we now have both Democratic and Republican presumptive nominees for the Presidential race. While some of us are most excited about the prospect for meaty discussions of fiscal and economic policy (and ... More About: Wall Street , Daily News , Street , Wall
Energy Price Ripples and Calculating (accurately, please) Subprime Losses
2008-05-29 04:07:00 Feeling pinched at the pump? Us, too. And we aren’t the only ones. It’s not just the little guys feeling the squeeze as energy costs soar. Big guys are feeling it, too. Like the folks at Dow Chemical, who say they’re having to raise prices by 20% to cope with ... More About: Daily News , Energy , Price , Losses , Subprime
AOL Execs Deal and Countrywide Whistles Blow
2008-05-20 21:04:00 Happy Tuesday, everybody. Ever so much exciting news this week, from SEC charges of fraud by AOL execs to a former Countrywide staffer with a new whistleblower case to a new study that says IT folks are still struggling with compliance, nearly 6 years after SOX. Meanwhile, more and more companies ... More About: Daily News , Deal
After-ASUG Analysis
2008-05-19 21:49:00 As many of you no doubt know, SAP just hosted its Americas User Group, ASUG-SAPPHIRE in Orlando. Several of our client companies were in attendance ? along with some little birdies who?ve been good enough to share on-the-ground reports with us on just what went on. It?s been energizing for us to hear about ... More About: Analysis , Industry News
The Future of GRC
2008-05-17 00:52:00 Is GRC a market category, or a set of features & functions within other existing market categories? That?s a debate for Industry analysts, which is what they do best. Frankly, I?m not sure Global 2000 companies are that worried about it. I think what they are concerned about is how to better ... More About: Future , Industry News , The Future
Poison Pill Partnerships, Meltdown Investigations and More . . .
2008-05-06 16:26:00 It’s shaping up to be quite a busy week for Wall Street. Bloomberg’s got the skinny on the latest goings-on in Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo! (as in, rough day for Yahoo! shareholders although happier days may come), and Professor Bainbridge has an interesting related take on just what might have soured things in the ... More About: Daily News , Poison , Investigations
Conflict Disclosure: No-Brainer or Not?
2008-04-29 19:31:00 Happy Tuesday, everyone. It seems that the PCAOB is considering a rule requiring accounting firms to disclose to audit committees any potential conflicts of interest between themselves and the operations they’re auditing. Fierce Sarbox says it’s a no-brainer, and we’re inclined to agree. Anybody out there want to argue otherwise? That’s ... More About: Daily News , Conflict , Disclosure
Stop, COLLABORATE (08) and Listen
2008-04-28 20:21:00 We just returned from a very busy week at COLLABORATE 08 and wanted to share some thoughts on what we saw and heard in Denver. The conference was very impressive ? some 7,000 attendees, hundreds of vendors, and thousands of sessions. It was clear to us early-on in the conference that interest in internal controls ... More About: Collaborate , Industry News , Listen , Stop
Creating a Culture of Compliance
2008-04-18 00:01:00 Governance relies on culture, and establishing an appropriate culture is one of the most important jobs for a board. Checking that the culture the board wanted is the culture they actually have is also important. The board will get some idea of the culture within the organisation by observing the behaviours of the CEO and ... More About: Culture , Industry News , Creating , Compliance
Acronym Soup: GAAP, IFRS, and FASB. OK?
2008-04-15 05:50:00 So, it like domestic accounting standards (GAAP) are on their way out, to be replaced by international ones. CFO Magazine has good background on what’s likely to happen, and their follow-up this week is equally worth reading. Because things are almost never as straightforward as they seem, we recommend also reading Accountants Round ... More About: Daily News , Soup
Monitoring Financial Controls ? A Success Story
2008-04-11 21:18:00 Today we?d like to focus on a company we?ve been working closely with ? a Fortune 100 retailer with billions in revenue, nearly 100,000 Employees, PeopleSoft Financial Management System (FMS) v.8.4 ? and concerns about how to reduce risk, rein in compliance costs and improve efficiency in their operation. The challenges facing the company ... More About: Story , Daily News , Success , Success Story
Grassroots Advocacy on Exec Accountability ? and (surprise!) more on Bear
2008-04-02 19:12:00 The New York Times this week had an interesting piece on a Colorado man, Lew Ellison, who worked for 30 years at Qwest Communications — and his efforts since its insider trading scandal-induced demise to create tougher corporate fraud laws. Having seen colleagues lose their life savings, Ellison has joined with local advocacy groups ... More About: Daily News , Grassroots , Accountability , Advocacy , Bear
Some easy listening on the blame game
2008-04-01 20:26:00 We came across an interesting discussion this week from the BBC’s BizDaily — a conversation about where the blame should lie for the credit crunch. It begins with an argument that the current auditing model, where for-profit businesses pay fees to other for-profit businesses to regulate them, is fundamentally flawed due to inherent conflicts of interest ... More About: Daily News , Game , Easy , Easy Listening , Blame Game
New Client News: Protiviti Licenses BizRights 4.0 for Oracle and Peoplesoft
2008-03-14 03:38:00 We’re happy to announce some exciting Approva news today — Protiviti has licensed Approva BizRights Software to Perform Control Assessments for Oracle E-Business Suite and PeopleSoft Applications. Protiviti, a leading risk and internal audit consulting company, will be standardizing Approva for Enterprise-wide Controls Monitoring. Using BizRights, Protiviti will be able to expand the ... More About: News , Licenses , Client
Yea or Nay on Say on Pay?
2008-03-06 17:52:00 There’s quite a debate going on about shareholders exercising a role in determining exec compensation — or Say on Pay. According to the BDO Seidman survey we mentioned earlier this week, a majority of CFOs surveyed personally believe that shareholders should have a say on executive compensation plans (though less than a third of ... More About: Daily News
Introducing BizRights 4.0
2008-03-04 17:43:00 We couldn?t be more excited about the new release of 4.0. Everyone is able to see the new features and to experience the significant performance improvements, but even more exciting to me is what customers may not see at first glance. The 4.0 release involved key changes to the core BizRights architecture that ...
Subprime Mortgages and Bad Accounting
2008-02-29 18:53:00 When it comes to financial scandals, all roads lead to bad accounting. During the peak of the post-Enron era in 2002, all fingers were rightly pointed at bad accounting as the culprit. In today?s most recent financial scandal ? the subprime mortgage debacle ? we have not seen much coverage tying this major ... More About: Breaking News , Industry News , Accounting , Mortgages , Subprime
PCAOB Guidance on the Way for Auditors Auditing Selves
2008-02-25 19:09:00 Happy Monday, everyone. The folks CFO are kicking the week off with some exciting news from the good people at the PCAOB, who have been working since 2004 to develop guidance on how audit firms should conduct their internal reviews. Apparently, a new proposal is going to slated for introduction at this week’s PCAOB board ... More About: Daily News
Why Compliance Cannot be Delivered as a Service
2008-02-15 17:16:00 My friend Mark MacAuley can always be counted on to stir things up. He?s seen plenty of enterprise deployments and architectures and comes at problems with a combination of Yankee ingenuity and healthy cynicism. Over on Identitystuff, Mark writes about offering Compliance as a service: “The new frontier is CaaS ? Compliance as a ... More About: Service
A Valentine from Approva
2008-02-14 04:53:00 This Valentine ?s Day, we at Approva want to help our readers to remember why they fell in love with Audit in the first place ? and provide some tips on re-kindling the romance, since even the best relationships need a little maintenance now and then. We?re consulting today with none other than ... More About: Daily News
Healthcare, healthcare everywhere
2008-02-12 23:45:00 No doubt about it, the state of healthcare in this country is all over the news lately — from political discussions to boardrooms and beyond. Our industry is by no means exempt. CFO Magazine has an article this month on new solutions businesses are incorporating to meet employee’s healthcare needs without dipping too ... More About: Healthcare , Daily News
French Trader Jailed and Other News
2008-02-08 21:59:00 Things are not looking up for Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue French trader making international headlines these days. Today, he was sentenced to prison for the duration of his investigation. See our previous post about this shocking, like $7 billion shocking, story. On a separate note, he is also making waves in the Social Media ... More About: News , Breaking News
Deloitte Study: Compliance Challenges for Banks
2008-02-08 21:21:00 For your reading pleasure today, some friends at Deloitte recently pointed us to an interesting study on compliance in the U.S. Financial Services industry. The study is based on a survey of chief compliance officers, chief risk officers and other senior executives at 20 of the top 50 banks and thrift institutions. Check out the ... More About: Study , Banks , Daily News , Compliance
Good Time to be an Accountant
2008-01-31 19:56:00 It seems that new auditing and compliance rules — combined with increased client demands — are fueling the need for seasoned CPAs. Here?s an article from the Wall Street Journal that states that ?accountants can thank Enron, WorldCom and other companies involved in financial misdeeds for their new star status.? Check out the ... More About: Daily News , Time , Good , Accountant
Corporate accountability, climate change and . . . cattle?
2008-01-24 19:21:00 Faithful readers know we tend to be fascinated with ripple effects here at Audit Trail ? and this week?s news is full of global ripples on world markets stemming from the housing-hammered US economy. Wendy over at Proxyland has some thoughts of her own this week on how macro issues can ripple into micro corporate concerns, ... More About: Climate Change , Climate , Daily News , Change , Corporate
Why Detective Controls Aren?t Enough
2008-01-23 21:52:00 I?d like to talk today about the need for many businesses to move beyond simple detective controls to more automated preventive controls ? and what the move means for business efficiency and effectiveness. I have a chart that I like to use to illustrate the typical controls implementation evolution that companies undergo. As ... More About: Detective
GAO Supports Big Four on Audit Costs
2008-01-16 20:13:00 Perception versus reality is often a challenge in any industry — or for any human experience for that matter. For years, large publicly traded companies have perceived a pinch from the ?big four? in terms of audit costs. Here?s the reality: the Government Accountability Office (GAO) just published a report that disputes this, ... More About: Breaking News , Audit , Costs
Boosting Efficiency?s Great. But How About Boosting Effectiveness?
2008-01-15 20:44:00 There?s been a healthy discussion industry-wide about using automation to increase efficiency, and we at Approva certainly recognize the value in the increased efficiency that automation can bring. But efficiency isn?t the only benefit that automation offers. With the right deployment, automation can also enable organizations to increase the effectiveness of their controls, improving ... More About: Great , Efficiency
Report Shows SOX Section 404 Is Working
2007-12-12 20:32:00 The leading industry experts at Audit Analytics recently posted their Section 404 ICFR Year 3 report. What’s the key takeaway? SOX Section 404 is working. As of October 2007, the overall rate of adverse Year 3 SOX 404 opinions/assessments has declined from previous years — at 8.6 percent, which is down from 10.5 ... More About: Daily News , Report , Working , Workin
Study Shows Progress In Internal Controls Effectiveness
More articles from this author:2007-12-11 16:45:00 Compliance Week (subscription required) recently released a study on the effectiveness of internal controls implemented in the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley. Financial Week covers it here, but the gist is that there is clear progress being made three years into the internal controls requirements that SOX has mandated. The highlights? Large filers last ... More About: Study , Daily News , Internal , Progress 1, 2, 3, 4 |
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