NEWS
CORPORATE
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ISSUES
Copenhagen Compliance principles and practices, OECD
guidelines and other covenants encourage companies and organizations to
apply the principles of responsible corporate behavior to CSR. Instead of
generalizing, preventing or remedy social or good governance violations
that others might have committed we recommend the promotion of a positive
and proactive CSR compliance culture.
All companies must be involved in CSR activities on
daily basis. However in order to create value in real terms, chart a 360°
approach to get the right culture and particular perspectives. By combining
the current CSR processes to the Gross National Happiness model, as we will
explain at the Bhutan conference in 1-3 October 2014, we will also support
and maintain the insight to integrate, embed and fix your CSR business processes
together with people and technology.
In May 2013 survivors were pulled out from the rubble
of a building that collapsed near Dhaka, Bangladesh. The disaster killed
more than 1,000 people and led to several international agreements intended
to protect workers and require factories safety as part of their CSR framework.
Promoting good governance, corporate self-reliance,
personal, social and planetary happiness, health and hopes, sustainable
socio-economic development, safeguarding corporate culture, saving the environment
are just some of the subjects for discussion and dialog at the CSR Conference
in Bhutan
BRIBERY
FRAUD AND CORRUPTION ISSUES
In the fast changing- and complex business world,
opportunities for a quick buck or fast tracking the path to a lucrative
transaction are vast, varied and vested. However the BFC risks can be intimidating
because it creates a tumor in the corporate DNA structure and BFC compliance
obligations become burdensome.
Corruption is a complex occurrence in the corporate
world with economic, collective, cultural and political dimensions and consequences.
Without an effective policy response, it cannot be reduced or simply eliminated.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. Past and future newsletters
will continue to focus on the most relevant BFC issues, in a business context.
GOVERNANCE
RISK MANAGEMENT AND COMPLIANCE ISSUES
Outsourcing business services (especially IT) is continuing
to drive the business decisions of senior leaders as economic pressures
force businesses to cut costs and increase competiveness. Business leaders
should avoid foregoing Business Continuity considerations when making outsourcing
buying decisions. The following are five pitfalls to avoid, ensuring your
business continuity needs are met and avoid mistakes when procuring IT services
from external Service Providers.
More often than not, GRC and audit committees are
conceived with all best intentions. Often they end up having too much on
their plate, because the charter and mission statements are not updated,
the committee often micromanages, and routinely substitutes the judgment
of the GRC officers. This can be a source of unnecessary red-tape and an
added burden on the GRC function. It becomes a filter between the GRC officers
and the management or board of directors. How to avoid this dilemma will
be discussed in the future newsletters.
The multinational companies like Google, Starbucks,
Vodafone or Amazon, who have often been in the news for tax avoidance are
not doing something wrong, as long as they disclose in the annual reports
the amount they are paying to whom and for what. So that they answer, the
question on what it effectively pays in taxes and in which country. However,
global tax disclosures is just the beginning.
Compliance training is viewed by organisations as
an area in which technology can deliver a big win. We start a 3 part series
on compliance e-learning tools to provide you with engaging, cost effective
and more personalised content online.
IT
SECURITY ISSUES
Risks to information (Information risks) are on the
management agenda because cyber-attacks command management's attention:
Managing digital assets in a new socio-technology environment will explore
how businesses assess and manage information risk because all organizations
have sloppy employees.
EXTERNAL
AUDIT ISSUES
The local audit operations of EY in Denmark were on
the verge of being shattered. The local partners then formed what is interpreted
by most as a reciprocal unholy alliance with KPMG's local Danish branch.
Did E&Y manage to attract more than what it had lost? Is the price for survival
too high? Will the natural balance and the pecking order in the audit field
be resorted? Was the merger with the arch enemy the only option? These and
other entertaining questions could continue like a broken record because
the clients, staff and stakeholders are left in bewilderment for quite a
while.
Since the Audit Committee conference last year, we
have helped several businesses to function according to the Copenhagen Compliance
GRC principles and practices. For audit committee, we add the extra element
of accounting and auditing standards and to adopt or update an appropriate
risk management framework.
The OECD released its Discussion Draft on Transfer
Pricing Documentation and CbC (Country-by-Country) Reporting. What should
tax executives know about this game-changing guidance?
