Corporate leaders and executives like to mouth the words surrounding corporate culture. It is part of the code they all use with each other. Few of them, however, really know what the word means or even dare to understand the importance to their business. Let’s face it – corporate leaders and executives like to talk the talk but they rarely if ever understand what they...
ESG is firmly implanted in the corporate governance landscape. Prosecutors and regulatory agencies are quickly adding ESG to their lexicon. The real question for every organization is “what are you doing to address it?” ESG is a terrific opportunity to leverage an organization’s corporate culture to address a broad set of values beyond ESG principles. In this Episode, Michael Volkov discusses the ESG movement and...
It has been almost one year since the Business Roundtable Restatement of Corporate Purposes to underscore expansion of broad governance and sustainability principles. Yet, one year later, not much has changed. Corporate board governance needs to improve and initiate reforms in response to recurring problems and scandals. Corporate boards can no longer represent resting places for business executives at the end of their respective careers. ...
Corporate boards are under increasing attack by investors, shareholders and the public. In the aftermath of corporate legal train wrecks, such as the Wells Fargo, Volkswagen Emissions, General Motors, J.P. Morgan 1MDB Malaysia, and increased demand for sustainability, ESG and other shareholder public policy objectives, corporate board members have a significant target on their respective backs. Corporate governance is at a critical juncture. The old-line,...
When reviewing a major enforcement case, I always ask two basic questions: What was the role of Board and senior management in the failure, and how did they fail to exercise proper oversight and ensure compliance? What was the company’s culture and what steps did the Board and senior management take to implement and monitor an effective ethical culture? After reading the Airbus’ factual proffer,...
Compliance officers and internal auditors are natural partners and allies in the compliance governance landscape. As the compliance profession and influence grew, compliance officers often leaned on internal auditors for help in assessing risks, uncovering financial misconduct, and assessing compliance functions and controls. Recently, however, I have noticed some changes in their relationship, suggesting that they both are maturing and gaining independence from each other. ...
The corporate scandal landscape is littered with important examples of governance failures surrounding corporate ethics and mishandling of harassment and sexual assault controversies. Major corporate governance failures surrounding the handling of these issues have occurred at Google, CBS (Les Moonves), U.S. Gymnastics team, and U.S Congress, just to name a few of the many. If there was ever a compelling argument for ethics and compliance...
These are inspiring times for the compliance profession. Looking back on the last ten years, it is amazing to observe the growth and influence of the compliance profession. Many of the original advocates for the compliance profession must be impressed. Corporate leaders are now embracing a new mantra – ethics and compliance. Business ethics is a new focus and language all to itself. At the...
Let’s face it – corporate boards are not adept at overseeing a company’s compliance program. In the absence of a board member who has prior compliance expertise, corporate boards either ignore or struggle to fulfill their compliance oversight responsibilities. Corporate governance performance is suffering from this serious gap between compliance responsibilities and compliance capabilities. Corporate boards are under increasing pressure to improve their performance, including...
Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success — Pablo Picasso The chief compliance officer is at an important professional juncture – 2018 is an important year for the profession. In this era of growth, and after corporate tax relief, companies...
