The Network GRC Blog


Speaking Up and Being Heard
May 14 2012

Clark Bosley, EVP Global Account Management, The Network

Ethics Reporting Needs DimensionA few weeks back I found myself traveling down a somewhat unfamiliar road, in the dark of night and with a thunderstorm quickly approaching. The rain and wind began pelting down, and my wipers could barely keep up with the heavy downpour. The glare from passing cars only added to the fun. “Thank goodness,” I thought. “As long as I can see the white line painted along the side of my lane, I know I’m still on my side of the road.”

Ethics & compliance reminds me of that white line. Ethics is knowing that staying in my lane is important. The white line helps…


Is Global Bribery a Necessary Evil?
April 30 2012

Clark Bosley, EVP Global Account Management, The Network

BriberyIs bribery sometimes right? Do laws like the FCPA and Bribery Act actually do more harm than good? We define “bribery” as having a corrupting effect and therefore wrong, and that part is certainly true. But if you follow what one Harvard director has to say, (alleged) briberous companies such as WalMart should be prosecuted, but the laws mandating that prosecution are contrary to business and even national growth.

Writing for CNN, Jeffrey Miron contends it’s only unsophisticated companies that get caught for bribery and that bribery is taking place everyday, especially in developing countries, as standard business practice. Miron has a good point: payments that are…


Data Privacy and Integrated GRC
April 19 2012

Jimmy Lin, VP, Product Management & Corporate Development, The Network

Privacy and Integrated GRCData privacy is becoming one of the most talked about topics among compliance and auditing practitioners. A short while ago I blogged about the need for strong policies and security measures geared toward data protection. Our partner Grant Thornton has release results of a new survey, “Rising to new challenges: The view from the office of the CAE,” on the current state of the chief audit executive, and the report points out two important factors that CAE’s need to embrace in order to be successful (including data privacy).

First off, there is that ongoing risk posed by cloud computing and cybersecurity threats.…


Use Self-Assessment to Find Your “Interior Tensile Strength”
April 10 2012

Cindy Knezevich, VP, Marketing Operations, The Network
Compliance Self-AssessmentWhen we talk about “compliance management,” we think in terms of the proactive and reactive ways in which we assess the state of compliance. Reactively, it means taking a call on an ethics hotline because of an employee issue involving your policies. Proactively, it means conducting risk assessments and surveys to gauge our level of risk preparedness and prevention. We look back at what happened, or we look ahead to what might happen. But how often do we look within?

There is such a thing as compliance self-assessment, and I don’t believe any of us, as individuals or as organizations, do enough in…


The SEC is Bringing Ethics to a Boardroom Near You
April 06 2012

Cindy Knezevich, VP, Marketing Operations, The Network
SEC & EthicsIt’s refreshing that the SEC is willing to work one-on-one with senior leadership at some of the largest financial firms in an effort to help those organizations stay in compliance. It’s encouraging that the SEC is also taking the approach that corporate culture, especially a culture of ethics, goes a long way to drive compliance.

Carlo di Florio, who runs the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations for the SEC, has made mention of an integrated approach to GRC numerous times in the recent past, and that’s even more encouraging. A blog posting on Reuters’ Financial Regulatory Forum quoted di Florio as…

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