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Risk Reporting and Dashboarding now available on your desktop!
Erwin Boeren 270002C43V email@example.com | | Tags:  ibm solvency insight dashboarding governance grc management openpages risk reporting basel cognos ii compliance | 0 Comments | 3,287 Visits
With the brand-new IBM Cognos Insight you can now connect to your IBM OpenPages environment from your desktop. You always have that moment that you need the information on a report but just a bit different than the standard report provides to you. The solution is here now, IBM Cognos Insight!
Insight is a powerful, intuitive desktop solution, that can read many different data sources from Excel to datawarehouses. Even your real time IBM OpenPages environment!
And it is not only reporting and dashboarding but it also lets you create what if scenarios on the fly! How would my risk exposure be if in one risk category the loss impact increases with 15%? Two clicks and you know the answer! And then you can comment on your report, which gives your colleagues more information on the context the moment you share your workspace.
How easy can risk reporting be???
For more tour on how IBM Cognos Insight please look at : http
Blog post by Erwin Boeren
Senior Governance, Risk & Compliance specialist IBM
Twitter : http
LinkedIn : http
Santa's Gift from COSO
Richard Steinberg 270004HRBG email@example.com | | Tags:  erm coso | 0 Comments | 946 Visits
In case you were too busy watching your kids open their holiday presents you might have missed a "gift" for you – COSO's updated internal control framework. During the holiday season the draft was exposed for public comment, so if you haven't already done so, you might want to get your hands on it and tell COSO what you think, and how it might be further improved.
In looking over the draft you'll see that the fundamental concepts and structure remain. The definition of internal control, the five components, and the COSO cube are unchanged. So are the three categories of objectives, except that the reporting category is expanded to include all reporting by an entity: financial and non-financial, internal and external. This brings the internal control framework in line with how the reporting category of objectives is defined in COSO's Enterprise Risk Mana
Other enhancements include:
You'll see the term "ICEFR" (pronounced ice-eh-fer), which is the acronym for internal control over external financial reporting. Because of the importance of the internal control framework for reporting under such requirements as Sarbanes-Oxley, COSO decided to offer a separate guidance document highlighting how the framework can be effectively applied for that purpose. It's organized around the five internal control components, containing approaches for and examples of their application, with direct linkage to the principles and attributes in the framework. It's important to keep in mind that the ICEFR guidance is just that, guidance; it will neither replace nor modify the framework. It will be exposed for comment later on this spring.
Well, it's a case of speak now, or…. If you're involved in any way with internal control, you'll want to provide your input on the document. By the way, I'm biased in a positive way – for full disclosure, I was the lead PwC project partner of the team that developed the original Framework, played a similar role with the COSO ERM framework, and advised the project team that developed this updated framework. But you may have different views, and it's important to make them known. The comment period ends March 31.
SEC Approves New Proxy Rule, Shareholders to Elect Board
John Kelly 270004J7VQ email@example.com | | 0 Comments | 259 Visits
Brandishing new authority thanks to the Dodd-Frank Act, the SEC was quick to act on an agenda item that had been on the table for 30 years. Yesterday, the SEC approved a 'Proxy Access' rule that allows shareholders to place nominations for board member seats on the annual proxy ballot of public companies. The rule applies to shareholder groups who have owned greater than 3% of a public company's stock for at least 3 years.
One thing that is certain, the new rule reflects the anger and backlash of shareholders who feel that boards of directors were not acting in the shareholders' best interest when taking highly leveraged and risky positions that led to the 2008 financial meltdown. As Rick Stenberg pointed out in his recent blog, this indicates a clear trend toward increasing shareholder power and of companies and their boards 'opening channels of communication with shareholders.' As these channels are opened, an information architecture that provides full transparency into risk exposure and enables information sharing will help to fill the communication gap between the Board and shareholders.
Tags: Dodd-Frank
SEC Expanding Compliance Investigations to Boards of Directors
Richard Steinberg 270004HRBG firstname.lastname@example.com | | Tags:  compliance openpages ocie sec | 0 Comments | 3,811 Visits
The head of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, Carlo di Florio, recently spoke about what his 900 professionals look for in conducting examinations of a wide range of financial institutions – noting the OCIE is breaking new ground. In carrying out its mission to improve compliance, prevent fraud, monitor risk, and inform policy, di Florio's office is expanding its focus to include boards of directors. In considering a firm's compliance culture, the OCIE is entering into direct discussions with boards of directors, to get a sense of the board's as well as senior management's attention to and focus on regulatory compliance issues. di Florio didn't name names, but media reports say such discussions already have taken place with the likes of Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Wells Fargo. He did say that the new focus is due in part to the fact that a firm's compliance culture is an "elusive concept and a real challenge," having a huge impact on the extent to which a firm engages in ethical conduct, also noting the need to integrate compliance within risk governance processes.
If you've encountered Carlo di Florio, you may have observed a soft spoken, gentle demeanor and charming personality. But that shouldn't be misinterpreted for anything less than a hard-nosed and rigorous approach on the part of him and his staff. Having worked with him in our "past life," I can assure you that he is not only thoughtful and creative in approach, he can be relentless in pursuing objectives.
OCIE's approach is multifold, focusing first on review of a firm's polices and related procedures, including policy management and flexibility in dealing with evolving conditions. There's focus on effectiveness of communication and training, and on such matters as how a firm assigns responsibility and handles accountability. Also in its sights are monitoring and testing processes, protocols for communicating issues upstream, and internal whistleblower processes. di Florio notes that the better the internal processes, the less OCIE will need to do. Highlighting its insightfulness, OCIE looks at such critical matters as where the power lies – the business side or legal/compliance – how bonus pools are allocated, independence of compliance staff, and involvement in critical decision-making. Also, the extent of compliance contributions of business units in performance assessment and reward processes are considered.
With all this, the focus on board of directors is consistent with attention to the tone at the top of a firm. Carlo di Florio is moving the lines, and I've no doubt he and his staff will have a sharper focus on and greater insight into what drives compliance.
SEC's Final Whistleblowing Regulations Cause Concern
Richard Steinberg 270004HRBG firstname.lastname@example.com | | 0 Comments | 474 Visits
If you're involved with compliance, you must know that the SEC issued its final rules on whisleblowing. The original proposal was hugely contentious, with serious concern that employees will bypass companies' internal reporting channels established as part of comprehensive compliance programs instituted and enhanced over recent years, and instead run directly to the SEC for a lottery-size payday.
Shareholder Power Rises
Richard Steinberg 270004HRBG firstname.lastname@example.com | | 0 Comments | 181 Visits
No doubt you know that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has been signed into law, with at least some ramifications for every public company. Space here doesn't permit an overview, and in any event you've probably already received highlights of the new law from one or more advisory firms. Among the more interesting aspects of new requirements is how the authority of corporate shareholders has risen, in a number of significant ways:
These of course are just some of the elements of the new law, which impact ultimately will be determined by numerous studies to be undertaken and regulations to be issued. One thing, however, is clear. Shareholder authority continues to grow, and companies and their boards will continue the trend of opening channels of communication with shareholders.
© Steinberg Governance Advisors, Inc. 2010. The information presented here does not constitute legal or any other type of professional advice. Companies are encouraged to consult legal counsel concerning their responsibilities for legal and regulatory compliance.
Smarter Project Risk
Erwin Boeren 270002C43V firstname.lastname@example.com | | Tags:  compliance grc governance manufacturing smarter energy&utilities openpages risk enterprise deloitte project | 0 Comments | 2,108 Visits
Smarter Project Risk
Last week I came across project risk, and not for the first time! So, time to spend some words on this topic.
Especially organizations in Energy&Utilities and Manufacturing have huge risks in their assets and in their projects. You think you have all risks identified through the standard risk identification process and you just missed that elephant?! This might impact your yearly financial result or worse!
This is why more and more clients start to look at Project Risk methodologies. My client happened to use the PMBOK methodology. In this methodology you consider standard project phases including standard risks and controls. This is great, since you have most of the standard risks covered. But what about that risk that is just not standard? This is where gate reviews will help you. These gate reviews are held after every project phase. Each gate review contains questions used to identify risks, holds monitoring methodologies to check status and behavior and contains audit like activities. Key element here is that all findings roll up to top level so no significant risk can be missed.
all works for what we call manageable risks, but what about risks that you
cannot manage? How will you anticipate on this? Well these risks can be covered
by sensitivity analysis, simulations and business continuity management.
Especially sensitivity analysis and business continuity analysis will help you.
For simulations you will need data, and a significant amount of data. Only in
case you have many similar projects running in a regular cycle you will be able
to generate enough risk identifications and losses to be able to make a sensible
calculation like
Now the system is in place, and now we are in control? Wrong! This is where the real work starts. How do I get my organization to adopt risk in her daily business? How do I get input with the right quality? How do I make everyone a risk manager? This takes time and effort. Guide your people in how to make the assessments and make them part of it. Give them back where they contributed to, and make their life easier. That is what we call Smarter Risk.
IBM OpenPages and Deloitte have put together a Risk Methodology for project risk where all these technologic and organizational aspects come together and can be integrated in your enterprise risk platform.
Blog post by Erwin Boeren
Senior Governance, Risk & Compliance specialist IBM
Twitter : http
LinkedIn : http
Solvency II and the need for Operational Risk
Erwin Boeren 270002C43V firstname.lastname@example.com | | Tags:  risk operational grc compliance ibm solvency openpages governance | 0 Comments | 1,910 Visits
Solvency II and the need for Operational Risk
Blog post from Erwin Boeren, Governance Risk &
Blog post from Erwin Boeren, Governance Risk &
Solvency II Operational Risk Challenges
John Kelly 270004J7VQ email@example.com | | 0 Comments | 227 Visits
As companies prepare for Solvency II, many are struggling with the right approach to address key aspects of the directive. Due to come into effect in 2012, Solvency II promises a more sophisticated 'risk-based' form of supervision that will require many insurers to augment their risk management framework – particularly with regard to operational risk.
In a Webinar hosted by OpRisk & Compliance Magazine, Stuart Robinson, senior vice president of group risk at Germany's largest insurer, Allianz discusses how Solvency II operational risk requirements are well aligned with Basel II requirements and other regulatory and industry standards. In particular, he points to how insurers need to:
SOX Upheld
Gordon Burnes 270004HVEW email@example.com | | 0 Comments | 205 Visits
The Supreme Court today issued a ruling in Free Enterprise Fund et al v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board et al and upheld the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
SOX Upheld
John Kelly 270004J7VQ firstname.lastname@example.com | | 0 Comments | 183 Visits
The Supreme Court today issued a ruling in Free Enterprise Fund et al v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board et al and upheld the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
The court did take issue with the way PCAOB members could be removed, and ruled that board members could be removed "at will" by the commissioners of the Security and Exchange Commission. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Roberts wrote that, despite the unconstitutional tenure provisions, the Act remains "fully operative as a law."
So what does this mean? Congress clearly tried to insulate the PCAOB from the political whims of the executive office, passing the Act, as it did, during an administration skeptical of regulation. Roberts' court handed advocates of executive power a victory by ruling that dual for-cause limitation on the removal of officers is not constitutional and that the president must have a direct line to remove officers of the government, which the Board members were determined to be.
However, given the current administration's concern about corp
Further, more and more SOX efforts are being rolled into a comprehensive program of managing risks enterprise-wide. Companies are more interested in broadening the application of the approaches, tools and techniques for testing financial controls to their broader control environment. The net here is that the Supreme Court's ruling will probably have little to no effect on how companies actually manage their risk with respect to financial reporting.
Spotlight on the Compliance Office
Richard Steinberg 270004HRBG email@example.com | | 0 Comments | 177 Visits
There's been a good deal of discussion recently about organizational location and reporting lines for a company's compliance function. Some are stand alone, though many are embedded within the legal department, with concern of legal privilege among the considerations. Some report to the CEO, though for many others the reporting line is to another senior executive. And to further complicate matters, some compliance functions also have responsibility for ethics, with some being asked to take on even greater responsibility.
Taking an Integrated Approach to IT Audit
John Kelly 270004J7VQ email@example.com | | 0 Comments | 194 Visits
PwC surveyed the chief audit executives (CAEs) of Fortune 250 companies about trends likely to affect internal auditors over the next five years and what they expect internal audit to look like in 2012. Titled "Internal Audit 2012", the study lists "ten imperatives" that provide the foundation for a high performance internal audit function in the years ahead including:
One of the key roadblocks to an integrated approach to IT audit is the sheer complexity of data gathering and management. In the past, it represented a tremendous amount of effort for internal audit to collect relevant information and to govern access to that information securely. A centralized technology platform for identifying, assessing and monitoring risk and controls presents a unique and unprecedented opportunity to help the business focus on making risk decisions based on management's risk appetite and tolerances.
This common framework and process can make the business more predictable in meeting IT, financial and management objectives and can help managers anticipate major risk and control problems of the future. As a partner with IT and the business in managing risk, internal audit should be a driving factor in evaluating technological and process-based changes and evolving the organization's risk management practices.
Talking at Cross Purposes About Risk
Richard Steinberg 270004HRBG firstname.lastname@example.com | | 0 Comments | 171 Visits
If you're involved in developing, enhancing or monitoring your company's risk management activities, you probably know that "risk" and associated terms are used very differently by different people. This too often is the case throughout an organization, right up to the board level. Indeed, experience shows that senior managements and boards think they're talking the same language, when they are not.
How often have you heard the terms "risk assessment," "risk management," and "enterprise risk management" used almost interchangeably? If your experience is anything like mine, it happens all the time. My sense is that busy executives and directors understand the basic concept of risk and don't take the time to get into what are perceived to be details in terminology. The resulting problem, however, is that we talk at cross purposes and misunderstandings abound. Risk related professionals know well that a risk assessment is a point-in-time snapshot of risks in an organization, risk management includes a number of activities in identifying, analyzing and managing risk, and enterprise risk management raises the bar to a still higher level.
Technology and Risk Management Culture
John Kelly 270004J7VQ firstname.lastname@example.com | | 0 Comments | 200 Visits
It's become clear that a risk-aware corporate culture is of critical importance to an organization. In the past year alone, there have been various examples in the news where a lack of risk-aware corporate culture has hurt companies, some beyond repair. Rick Steinberg, Founder and CEO of Steinberg Governance Advisors, Inc., recently joined OpenPages' Gordon Burnes for a webinar discussion on how to develop a risk-aware culture, and the role technology can play in transforming an organization's approach to enterprise risk management.
How does your organization promote a risk-aware culture?


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In response to NY-PATS-FAN4's comment:
In response to TFB12's comment:
Over rated and Pathetic in the playoffs? WHAT?
Didn't they win a playoff game last weekend and looked good doing so?
Didn't they win in the playoffs last season and take the AFC title?
Bad game today, it happens.
My issue with this attitude is that people want to argue that Brady and BB are the "greatest of all-time" at their jobs. If that were the case they would stop having "bad games" with the season on the line. The last five post-seasons (Giants SB 42, Ravens in 2009, Jets in 2010, Giants SB 46, today) they were supposed to be the better team (by 9+ points in three of those games).

subset: commoncrawl