Anti-Money Laundering Changes Raise Risk Assessment Requirements, BAI Online
Banks feeling increased pressure driven by the zero tolerance environment of the Patriot Act can implement a host of practical measures throughout their organizations to alleviate the burden of anti-money laundering legislation.

To Thine Own Self Be True, SmartPros 
A board must be aware of its own culture and the values of individual directors to determine how well its directors will be able to meet their collective responsibility for overseeing the corporate culture and carrying out heightened oversight and governance responsibilities.

The Challenging Role of a Director, BankInfoSecurity
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA) and the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) refocused the spotlight on a financial institution’s boardroom placing responsibility for security and internal controls squarely on the shoulders of the board.

Enterprise Risk Management: Specialty Guide, BNET.com
This guide, published by the Society of Actuaries, serves as a fundamental resource for a basic understanding of ERM and the skills that are particularly relevant in today's climate of risk quantification, classification and mitigation, and as a guide to further study of the subject.

IT Audit Checklist for Risk Management, IT Compliance Institute
Are you prepared for your next risk management audit? This IT Audit Checklist offers 80 checklist items to help assess your audit-readiness, provide clarification on what auditors want to see and how to effectively communicate with an auditor, and provide pointers on audit preparation, testing, and reporting to help managers prepare for an audit of risk management. Free registration required.

GAO Chief Warns Economic Disaster Looms, SmartPros
The vast majority of economists and budget analysts agree that the ship of state is on a disastrous course of economic disaster if nothing is done to correct it.

Chief Ethics Officers: Who Needs Them? Forbes
Chief ethics and compliance officers have become trendy in recent years, but some experts fear they act mainly as window dressing. Unless top management makes ethics a priority, this C-level position could be of no consequence at all.

48 questions you need to answer for SOX(according to the auditors), TechRepublic
This list of the 48 questions was posed by Ernst & Young to the CIO and CFO of Synthetic in order to gauge the company's compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Would your company have the answers? Free registration required.

IMA Study Analyzes Internal Controls Implementation, WebCPA
A study from the Institute of Management Accountants assessing the views of nearly 400 chief financial officers, controllers, internal auditors and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance specialists at publicly traded companies found several factors that hurt cost-effective SOX compliance.

Use Sarbanes-Oxley compliance as a catalyst to drive ROI, Search CRM
As a result of SOX compliance, many companies have improved their decision-making processes by implementing portfolio management and project management tools and dashboards to track key performance indicators in an effort to achieve a positive ROI. Free registration required.

Audit watchdog to trim down Sarbox - Financial Director
Mark Olson, chairman of the PCAOB, says the incremental cost to date of Sarbanes-Oxley has exceeded the incremental benefit and that the organization has a four-point plan to lighten the Sarbanes-Oxley burden.

Study Reveals SOX Compliance Issues, Compliance Solutions Advisor
This article provides a sampling of key findings from the study released by the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) designed to identify the factors which inhibit a successful and cost-effective SOX compliance outcome, identify the real drivers of compliance cost, and provide actionable insights for policy makers.

Common Pitfalls and Mistakes in Preparing for an IT Regulatory Exam, BankInfoSecurity
This interview with Susan Orr, ex-FDIC examiner, provides insight on preparing your financial institution for an IT regulatory exam.

Three Major Strategic Shifts to Drive Global Financial Services Institutions in the Future, Bank Systems & Technology
TowerGroup's cross-industry practice 2007 report identifies top trends impacting core sectors of global financial services industry in 2007 and identifies the three major strategic shifts on the horizon for global financial services.

Selecting new IT leaders, TechRepublic
Figuring out who has the potential to become a great leader or middle manager of IT is difficult. Granted, it often seems impossible to predict an individual's leadership prospects, but there are traits that can be predictors of success as well as some commonly used criteria that should be dismissed given their less-than-stellar results.

Financial Services Among Top Companies Making Strong Case for Security Programs, Bank Systems & Technology
The Conference Board recently released a study "Navigating Risk: The Business Case for Security," sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security. The study was designed to gauge the role and influence of security managers among general senior executives and determine the support of such initiatives among those executives whose primary functions do not include security.

The art of technology due diligence, TechRepublic
Conducting thorough IT due diligence can make the difference between a successful merger and a man-made disaster. This first in a series of seven articles discusses the need for due diligence objectives, and reviews a process developed for acquisition, discovery, and transition of technology resources.