The Most Important Compliance Best Practices You Need to Know

The SEC conflict mineral rule that came into force on January 1, 2013 has led to widespread confusion over applicability and what the law requires. Companies are also unsure of what processes to adopt in order to comply with the rule’s requirements and what they are expected to report to the regulator.Ignoring the rule can come at a high cost – businesses can be sued for fraud and face regulatory action.If a company is found to have used a mineral from a supplier that is supporting human rights abuses,the damage to its reputation can be irreparable. This white paper provides an overview of the conflict minerals issue, explains the SEC rule and provides five best practices that can be adopted in order to ensure regulatory compliance.

In this article, James Bone, a leading expert on GRC, analyzes the recent speech Mary Jo White, Chair of the S.E.C, gave at the the Council of Institutional Investors in Chicago this fall.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Biomet Inc violated the provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The violation occurred in the form of bribes that Biomet’s subsidiaries and their agents paid to public doctors in Argentina, Brazil and China for almost a decade in order to bag business.

This article details the allegations against Biomet and the compliance best practices that have to be followed to avoid similar charges.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have jointly announced a rule proposal to help protect investors from identity theft. This is to be done by ensuring that SEC- and CFTC- regulated entities detect and respond to warning signs or red flags.

This article details best practices that firms can follow in order to ensure compliance with the proposed rule.

2011 proved to be a busy year for the SEC in terms of the regulatory decisions it had to make and the cases it brought against non-compliant organizations. The agency itself was subject to intense scrutiny for its document management process violations. This article details the five biggest SEC cases of 2011 and also outlines best practices that companies can follow in order to ensure compliance.

In 2003, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted audit committee requirements which prohibit the listing of any security of an issuer that is not in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002).

This article describes the best practices that Audit Committees can follow in order to ensure SEC compliance.

The whole point of IFRS is to produce clear, reliable, relevant, and comparable financial statements that lenders and investors can depend on to make informed decisions. IFRS measures fixed assets in terms of their present and future contributions to the company.

Mike Morley, a Certified Public Accountant, explains the IFRS criteria for valuing fixed assets.

In this extract from his book, IFRS Simplified, Mike Morley, a Certified Public Accountant, gives a brief overview of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) requirements for financial instruments.

The Compensation Committee Revised Rules of 2006 require that all compensation earned by a company’s senior executives (chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and three most-highly-compensated officers, earning above USD 100,000) in the last fiscal year be disclosed.

This articles discusses the best practices to be followed in order to comply with these regulations.

Organizations are continually reminded of the need to understand their business processes. Governments demand it. Certification Agencies demand it. Auditors demand it. Competition demands it. People realize value in understanding the processes which will enable them to do a better job. But people are oblivious of the available tools and methods which will augment their need to understand their processes better.

Over time, there have been a larger focus on process improvement and has seen the emergence of re-engineering, BPI and six sigma. There are several government mandates like the SOX and PIPEDA and organizations like ISO which have laid out guidelines for process improvement.

More on the different tools and methods and various benefits of implementing them read on

Corporate Performance Management aligns goals, metrics, people and technology in order to increase performance across the organization. This stems from the fact that organizations are faced with enhancing price performance, customer satisfaction and retention, & improve productivity and efficiency while streamlining processes and driving bottom-line growth.

CPM implementation drives the following benefits:

• Goal Alignment
• Increased business agility
• Comprehensive regulatory compliance
• Improved consolidation process
• Streamlined reporting
• Collaborative management