Consider this posting a warning to everyone in the corporate governance field. I am not known for being a chicken little and screaming “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.” I tend to be a realist when it comes to politics and corporate governance. So with this caveat in mind, here is my warning for the future. With the rise of the Chief Compliance...

Lauren Connell from The Volkov Law Group joins us again for a posting about the implications of the FIFA Scandal.  Her profile is here and she can be reached at [email protected]. Everyone is talking about the latest corruption scandal, this one with world-wide impact. The scandal engulfed FIFA as seven organization officials were recently arrested in Switzerland. Charges include a range of money laundering, racketeering,...

I have to confess that there is a part of me that was skeptical about a new survey released last week finding that banks and other financial institutions have not embraced a culture of integrity.  (Survey Here).   Indeed, the survey found that numerous individuals continue to operate with the idea that illegal or unethical behavior is a necessary part of succeeding in the financial markets....

Donna Boehme (profile here) and I recently wrote an article — 4 Steps Corporate Directors Need to Take Toward Compliance 2.0 – which is available here. I have written about the need for corporate boards to embrace a “new reality,” reflecting the increased risks and the importance of ethics and compliance.  Corporate boards can no longer rely on prior legal models to satisfy governance standards;...

You can always count on lawyers to ring alarm belles and warn businesses. The line between accurate reporting and fear-mongering sometimes blurs when lawyers write so-called “alerts” to inform businesses of new or increasing risks. When it comes to the False Claims Act, I always try to “stick to the facts.” For healthcare, pharmaceutical/medical device, and defense companies, the False Claims Act is usually the...

We all know our favorite things and people who fit together well – milk and cookies, peanut butter and jelly, chips and salsa, Tracy and Hepburn, Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello, and many other great combinations. In the corporate compliance world, chief compliance officers and internal auditors are natural allies. They often report to the same board committee, share a common perspective on corporate...