Five Trends Reshaping Internal Audit, Directorship.com
The traditional role of internal audit is transforming from a focus on controls assurance to a risk-centric model based on the effectiveness of risk management processes. This shift in the future of internal audit is directed at the rising needs of organizations and fulfilling the executive staff’s expectations.

Auditors told to go harder on fraud, Financial Week
Regulators in the audit industry insist that auditors need to do a better job when it comes to reviewing corporate financial statements. Thomas Ray, chief auditor for the PCAOB, argues that auditors should follow up on “red flags” they find and start evaluating the risk of fraud.

Some finance execs welcome accounting convergence, Financial Week
Converging GAAP accounting standards and international reporting standards may actually allow global corporations to restructure reporting processes and cut company costs. This process will consolidate accounting and audit processes to form regional accounting centers and allow for one area of training.

Ex-auditor settles insider-trading, Associated Press
A former PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP auditor profited from trading on inside information that he obtained from a co-worker at the accounting firm's San Francisco office, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged on January 15.

S&P Considers Enterprise Risk Management Impact, P&C National Underwriter
Analysts at Standard & Poor’s are posing the question, Should Enterprise Risk Management be expanded as a factor in rating companies? ERM can make the difference in companies’ ratings either pushing them up or down depending on their processes.

FFEIC releases guidance on pandemic planning, Continuitycentral.com
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council issued guidance for financial institutions to help identify continuity planning to put in place to minimize the potential adverse effects of a pandemic.  FFIEC believes that an established business continuity plan will address how each institution should manage a pandemic event.

New Research provides resources on Fraud Prevention and Financial Reporting, Accountingweb.com
A new Financial Executives Research Foundation Study, “What’s New in Financial Reporting: Financial Statement Notes from Annual Reports” examines disclosures from 2006 annual reports for the 100 largest publicly-traded companies. The study identifies and analyzes recent reporting trends and common practices in financial statements. A second piece of research by FEI helps boards of directors and management assess potential risk factors associated with fraudulent financial reporting and the misappropriation of assets.

Tackling the IT Governance Challenge, Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal
Compliance with guidelines such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) help IT professionals meet the challenges placed upon them by regulations such as Sarbox and Basel II. Yet both sets of guidelines are efficient at helping IT professionals achieve business objectives effectively.

SarbOx: SEC plays Santa for small companies, Financial Week
The Securities and Exchange Commission gave small public companies an extra year to comply with the audit verification portion of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act last week. Christopher Cox, SEC Chairman, told the House Small Business Committee that, “unless there is an addition deferral, companies will incur compliance costs before the SEC has the benefit of [a forthcoming SarbOx cost benefit] study and analysis. That study is expected in June 2008.

US SEC OKs audit watchdog’s 6 pct budget increase, Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s 6 percent budget increase for 2008, but one SEC commissioner still argued that the audit watchdog’s salaried for board members were too high.  The SEC voted 3-1, allowing the PCAOB to spend $144.6 million in 2008 compared to $136.4 million last year. The board expects to spend more than 70 percent of its budget on hiring and retaining experienced auditors.

Syms move to relist raises hackles of some investors, NJ.com
Syms, the off-price clothing retailer, has decided to have its stock delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Syms shares have plunged 35 percent, from nearly $17 when the company announced plans December 21 to seek a delisting. The company said it can save $750,000 a year by avoiding the administrative and financial burdens required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Security Information Management, InfoWorld.com
Security Information Management (SIM) products are critical components in today’s network security infrastructure. Selecting SIMs is becoming more important because of the important architectural differences and implementation requirements.  SIM products are already beginning to hit the market, but the major issues and deployment criteria span brands and individual technologies.

XBRL Skeptics Abound, CFO.com
The Securities and Exchange Commission is promoting XBRL, regardless of the high level skepticism it’s getting from auditors in the field. XBRL, extensible business-reporting language, is supposed to make financial data easier to sort and analyze, however, opponents argue that it is an expensive gimmick pushed by top audit firms and consultancies.

P&L Management 101, CIO.com
Many Chief Information Officers wait to take the first step on that journey to earn the right to manage a P&L. To achieve that goal, executives listen to their external customers, engage with the business, focus on innovation and look for new revenue opportunities. These CIOs take this information, create business models and present them to the CEO. Then they receive the keys to P&L management. In this article, the author speaks to three CIOs who simultaneously managed IT and a line of revenue about what it takes to be successful at both.

Fine Tuning Corporate Data Protection – Are We Ready? Enterprise Networks and Servers
After Hurricane Katrina, businesses pursued disaster recovery (DR) and business continuation strategies in earnest. The result is many more companies today are better prepared than they were
two years ago. However, with increased regulatory demands, advanced data protection measures are necessary as well.

Annuities Carriers Cooperate on NAVA STO Initiative to Improve Service Levels, Insurance & Technology
Under the NAVA STP initiative, carriers such as Jackson National Life are looking to improve service levels and processing times, which could eventually change the way they view competitive differentiation.

Regulators Address the Politics of Underwriting, Insurance Journal
Political calculations can weigh heavily in setting insurance rates. Serving as state authority on what factors insurers use to raise or lower rates.

SEC Notes Lack of International Insurance Standards, National Underwriter
A new final financial report rule issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission includes a discussion of international insurance regulatory efforts. This final rule permits foreign companies to file financial statements prepared according to International Financial Reporting with the SEC without reconciling the statements with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP).

Insurers Paying to Rebuild Greener Homes, Associated Press.com
The California Wildfires that destroyed 2,200 homes in October 2007 are causing two major insurers to launch “green” insurance programs. These “green” programs will allow homeowners to reconstruct their property with more environmentally friendly building materials, appliances and landscaping.

Predictive Analytics: from CRM to EDM, Banking Strategies
Mining customer transaction data for marketing purposes in today’s banking industry to many bankers may seem a thing of the past. However, disappointments with trying to implement Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategies still appear in the industry. Mark N. Greene, CEO of Minneapolis-based Fair Isaac Corp. wants financial institutions to take another look at the data mining concept under the label Enterprise Decision Management or EDM.

Financial Services CEOs Not as Tech Savvy as they Say, Bank Systems and Technology
A Diamond Management & Technology Consultants study showed that financial firms are not as technologically savvy as they are thought to be.  While 83 percent of C-level business technology executives predict that IT would increase competitiveness, enable new market entrants or both, they also agree that these C-level execs are not champions in technology and do not include CIOs in strategic planning.

Major Canadian Banks Become Basel II Compliant, Bank Systems & Technology
All major Canadian banks including RBC (Ottawa: $604 billion in assets), Scotia Bank (Toronto; $408 billion in assets), TD Financial Group (Toronto; $403 billion in assets), and CIBC (Toronto; $336 billion in assets) became Basel II compliant on November 1, 2007. Now, banks in the United States, which have a later deadline for compliance, are now in a position to learn from these Canadian banks that already have gone through the compliance process.