Recent Industry Headlines

We peruse the Internet headlines so you don’t have to. Here are the recent headlines (and links) we felt newsworthy:

PCAOB Addresses Emerging Audit Issues In 2008 Forums on Auditing in the Small Business Environment - These forums are designed to help share important information with registered public accounting firms and public companies operating in the small business community.

PCAOB Releases Five-Year Plan - The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board wants to reduce the amount of time it takes to post inspection reports for audit firms, according to the board’s five-year strategic plan. Click here for the report.

Fears That the Market Watchdog Is Losing Its Bite - Wall Street and the broader business community have pushed aggressively in recent years to roll back regulation, arguing the United States is losing its competitive edge. But with the recent financial crisis, which many call the worst since the Depression, critics wonder whether the S.E.C. has given in to the push to lighten up.

65% of businesses experience fraud - Most of the survey’s respondents agreed that the largest risk facing them was from computer fraud, with 68 per cent saying it is a high or medium level risk to their organisation.

It’s time to embrace risk management - With the debut of Standard & Poor’s new enterprise risk rating for non-financials, execs need to start paying attention

A Brighter Spotlight, Yet the Pay Rises - Wasn’t 2008 supposed to be the year of shareholder victory on the executive compensation front? After all, tighter disclosure rules kicked in last year, and - the theory went - once companies had to shine a spotlight on their compensation practices, they were bound to make them better.

Sara Lee, Coach Set Rules To Deter Devious Shareholders - Corporate-governance experts believe Sara Lee and Coach are breaking new ground, enacting a preventive measure to deter hedge funds or activist investors from manipulating a company’s stock price for their own gain.

Indian companies focusing on risk management - Intense global competition and rapid growth are forcing Indian firms to examine corporate enterprise risk management (ERM) elsewhere, especially in Europe, Australia and North America, where the process is more mature, according to a study.

Making governance a priority - BHP is about to elevate its focus on governance by becoming the first Australian company, and one of the few worldwide, to appoint a corporate governance expert to a senior management position.