Categories
This Week in FCPA

Episode 279 – the Happy Hanukkah Edition

Hanukkah comes early this year. As the Rosen household begins its annual celebration, Tom and Jay are back to look at some of the week’s top compliance and ethics stories this week in the Happy Hanukkah edition. 

Stories

1.     Preparing for dawn raid in the era of hybrid work? Andrew Reeves and Annie Birch in FCPA Blog.
2.     When you fight corruption, it fights back. Rick Messick in GAB.
3.     Why does Walmart want to keep an exec quiet about its compliance program? Dick Cassin explores in the FCPA Blog.
4.     Board effectiveness survey.  Paul DiNicola and Leah Malone in the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance.
5.     New OECD ABC suggestions. Nicola Bonucci and Nat Edmonds in the FCPA Blog.
6.     Graybeards and Youngbloods working together. Carrie Root in CCI.
7.     Trust in companies ‘shockingly’ low? Lawrence Heim in PracticalESG.
8.     Are senior level compliance positions becoming harder to find and fill? Matt Kelly explores in Radical Compliance.
9.     Role of PwC in Tesla/JPMorgan dispute. Francine McKenna explores in The Dig (sub req’d).
10.  How will tech change the work landscape in 2022? Check out this pod with Mrs. Monitor (AKA Rebecca Rosen) on Freshbrewed Tech. 

Podcasts and Events

11.  How can you show ROI from your internal investment in compliance? Nick and Gio Gallo join Tom Fox in the most unusual pod series, Mining the Gold in Compliance. Part 1 – ROI on Compliance. Purchase Decisions. Part 2 – Extending Compliance Value Across an Organization. Part 3 – Compliance and ESG Investments. Part 4 – Finance and Investing Models for Compliance. Part 5 – Investment Strategies for the Compliance Professional.
12.  Are you exasperated? Then check, F*ing Argentina. In this podcast series co-hosts Tom Fox and Gregg Greenberg, author of F*ing Argentina explore the current American psyche of being overworked, over leveraged, overtired and overwhelmed. Find out about modern America’s exasperation with well…exasperation. In Episode 11, a birthday party battle through text messages.
13.  In November on The Compliance Life, I visited with Wendy Badger, CCO at Tennant. In Part 1, she detailed her academic career and early professional life. In Part 2, changing ladders to advance your career. In Part 3, Wendy moved into the CCO Chair. In Part 4, Wendy talked about having courage in your career choices and compliance into the future. Next week, we begin the December series with Matt Silverman, Director of Trade Compliance at VIAVI.
14.  The Compliance Podcast Network welcomes Professor Karen Woody and her new podcast, Once Upon a Trading Law: The History of Insider Trading. In this most unique pod, Karen interviews some of her student to tell the history of insider trading. Check out Episode 1, which looks at the beginnings of insider trading.
15.  Join Tom, Mike Volkov, Carrie Penman, Dr. Pat Harned and Skip Lowney (an all-star panel if there ever was one) for the ECI webinar on the intersection of compliance and E&C programs. Wednesday, December 15, from 2-3:30 ET. Registration and information here.
Tom Fox is the Voice of Compliance and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com.

Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

Francine McKenna with an update on the KPMG-PCAOB Scandal

In this episode I visit with one of my favorite people, Francine McKenna, a reporter at MarketWatch. We check in on the current developments in the KPMG-PCAOB scandal including recent guilty pleas, sentencing and where the matter might finally be headed. Some of the highlights include:
·       A review of the Indictment and underlying facts.
·       A review of the horrendous facts about KPMG that came out during the March trial.
·       What does it say about the PCAOB that two of its former Board members were witnesses for the defense in the trial?
·       What did all this mean for KPMG head Lynne Doughtie? What does all this mean for audit independence, particularly in the Jay Clayton era at the SEC?

·       Where can listeners go for more information?

Resources

Francine McKenna on MarketWatch

MarketWatch website

Re: The Auditors blogsite

Categories
Compliance Into the Weeds

Compliance into the Weeds: Bonus Episode-Reflections on KPMG with Francine McKenna

Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast which takes a deep dive into a compliance related topic, literally going into the weeds to more fully explore a subject. In this episode, Matt Kelly (the coolest guy in compliance) and I take things in a different direction as we welcome Francine McKenna, reporter at MarketWatch. And blogger extraordinaire at Re: The Auditors. After one full week of writing, thinking and talking about the SEC enforcement action against KPMG, we provide our initial reflections.
McKenna discusses:

  • Is the total fine only Starbucks money for KPMG?
  • Why no one had an inkling of this cheating scandal in addition to the PCAOB scandal.
  • Why will the SEC will go out of its way not to put KPMG out of business?
  • What are the federal government audit assignments KPMG currently holds?
  • How should recalcitrant KPMG employees be disciplined?
  • Can the KPMG culture be turned around?

Kelly discusses:

  • Who will be the monitor and what will be their scope? What will they do?
  • How do you hold accounting firms accountable?
  • Channeling his inner Dean Wormer, Kelly asks if KPMG is now on a double Cease and Desist Order?
  • Can KPMG keep public confidence going forward?
  • Did Jay Clayton’s summer 2018 comments include any knowledge of the cheating scandal?

Fox discusses:

  • Was it negligent or intentional conduct involved?
  • How heavy is the shadow of Arthur Anderson in this matter?
  • Why the government will use all means possible not to put KPMG out of business?
  • KPMG in currently involved in multiple scandals, in at least 3 separate continents. Where and when will it end?
  • Is it time to break up the Big 4?
  • Is this fine really even a meaningful sanction?

For additional reading,  check out the following resources:
You should start with McKenna’s great piece on the scandal in MarketWatch, “The KPMG cheating scandal was much more widespread than originally thought
Matt’s blog post-Questions on the KPMG Ethics Fiasco
Tom’s blog post-Day of Reckoning for KPMG-Failures in Ethics