Tag Archives: IIA

Tate’s Excellent Audit Committee Guide, Plus Prior 2007 CEB Audit Committee Chapter

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For audit committee members and directors, I have attached three links below, the first for my 2007 audit committee chapter for the California Continuing Education of the Bar, the second for the new audit committee guide that is a work in progress but already contains substantial materials, and the third to the cover and table of contents to Accounting and Its Legal Implications.

Using my blog posts, the 2007 audit committee chapter (which is now unpublished, CEB subsequently cancelled the entire Director and Officer binder), and the new audit committee guide you should get a good feel for new developments and guidance about audit committee member functions and responsibilities.

I also ask that you tell other people about this blog and the new audit committee guide.

1. Here is a link to my 2007 audit committee chapter for the California Continuing Education of the Bar (the chapter and the entire D&O publication has been cancelled for some time), CLICK HERE

2. The following is a link to the new audit committee guide which contains substantial materials although it is a work in progress, Tate’s Excellent Audit Committee Guide (July 31, 2015 version), Tate’s Excellent Audit Committee Guide 07312015 CLICK HERE

3. Cover and Table of Contents from Accounting and Its Legal Implications – I expect to scan and post this entire material shortly – although some is outdated, it is still a good read – originally published by Business One/Irwin Publishing, CLICK HERE

Thank you. Dave Tate, Esq. (San Francisco / California).

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On the 2015 Audit Committee Agenda

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10 things that audit committees should keep in mind as they consider and carry out their 2015 agendas.

Click on the following link for the discussion: www.kpmg-institutes.com

Good broad topic areas to consider, although I prefer the following discussion materials that I have written as they are more specific – click on the following link – Audit Committee Self-Evaluation Form David Tate Esq 10302014.

Dave Tate, Esq. (San Francisco / California).

3 Major Changes Congress Wants to Make to Social Security – On the Scale of Risk Management How Would You Score Congress?

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Social Security needs change to survive over the long run, and Congress seems willing to take up the daunting task of a Social Security overhaul. – Sean Williams – Investment planning

Click on the following link for the article: www.fool.com

No surprise here.  Inactive and lack of diligent long-term planning. This issue has been around for 40-50 years.  A serious issue for old, middle age and young alike.

If you are young, why do you want to pay 13-14% (half from you and half from your employer) into this program when there is no reasonable certainty that it will be around for you when you retire, and if it is around there is no reasonable certainty about what the benefits will be.

If you are near or at retirement and you paid into this program for 40-50 years you are probably safe, if you don’t live for another 20 years.

If you are in the middle, not near retirement, and have been forced to pay into this program for 25-35 years, good luck to you.

How would you rate the Social Security program risk management? See my prior blog post about the NIST cybersecurity risk management framework, Click for Post .  I would rate Social Security risk management as Tier 1 – Tier 2.

Dave Tate, Esq. (San Francisco / California)

UK pressures Bank of America unit on risk management – Wall Street Journal

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(Reuters) – British regulators are pressuring Bank of America Corp’s European investment-banking arm to improve its risk management practices, saying the current ones are “simplistic” an…

Click on the following for the article: au.news.yahoo.com

You may have been following the efforts to bring European and U.S. accounting standards into conformity, and how difficulty that has been.  I would evaluate the chance of bringing the various different governance and risk management codes into conformity as zero. And as the European regulatory agencies appear to be getting more active and demanding both with the code provisions and enforcement, we might expect European developments in these areas to become more center stage.  Dave Tate, Esq. (San Francisco / California)

Regulator launches consultation on ‘The essential trustee’ – Press releases – GOV.UK

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U.K. Guide to trustees’ duties is updated.

I am following up on a post by a LinkedIn group member about a new regulatory initiative by the U.K. Charity Commission on trustee standard of care.  You can click on the following link to access the article: www.gov.uk

The following are my initial comments about the post and the regulatory proposal.

Thank you Jane.  I clicked on the materials.  As they are rather long for a morning before work read, I’ll have to get back to them in detail.  Preliminarily it appears to pretty much follow what in the U.S. would be the business judgment rule.

The very real distinction is whether a regulatory agency will really enforce the requirements. And with charities there are so many different types and missions, and people of tremendously different backgrounds who serve on the boards.

I have served on two nonprofit boards and as an audit committee chair – on one of the boards all members were pretty sophisticated, on the other board perhaps less than half would fit that criteria. But on both boards they all supported the mission, did not have conflicts, and tried to make correct and diligent decisions within their abilities.

Should some of the board members on the second board not be allowed to serve as board members?  Tough call. Depending on the final outcome of the regulations, they could have a chilling or at least limiting effect on who can or wants to serve on a charity board. The U.K. initiative will be very interesting to watch.

Dave Tate, Esq. (San Francisco / California)

How to Disagree with Auditors: An Auditor’s Guide at Truth to Power – Information Governance Research Community

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Auditors are required to tell management when control failures are exposing them to risk. Still, many managers at some point disagree with their auditor’s assessment. Can companies make auditors revise their assessment? And if not, what’s the best way to find common ground in those disparate views?

Source: Click on the following link for the entire article www.t2pa.com

An interesting, brief discussion.

Dave Tate, Esq.

UK – Banking Executives and Directors – Embrace Rules or Quit

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It’s not the US, but the push on executives and directors for accountability continues – in UK banking they are told to embrace the new rules or quit.  Click here for article.

Dave Tate, Esq. (San Francisco)

SEC and SOX 302 Violation

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Below is a link to a discussion by Norman Marks. Please read Norman’s blog post. The following are my comments about the Sox 302 violation. In appropriate cases it would also be helpful for the SEC to discuss the actions or inactions of the audit committee and internal audit, such as in the factual background information – not necessarily to find fault or not with the audit committee or internal audit, but to bring them more in the public focus. The audit committee apparently was not aware of the situation – the committee has an oversight responsibility only; however, it would be useful to know some of the activities that the audit committee performed. Similarly, internal audit, if used correctly, might have been useful to detect the problems. I would want to know how internal audit was functioning, or not, and how it might be improved to benefit the audit committee’s oversight and the shareholders.

Dave Tate, Esq.
http://tatetalk.com

P.S. – I am told by a friend that the company is not listed on the NYSE, and accordingly there is no internal audit requirement.  Thank you Michael.  I have to acknowledge that I did not confirm the listing exchange.  That raises a whole host of other issues – such as, if there is no internal audit requirement, which companies should nevertheless decide to implement that function anyway?  DT

 

SEC and SOX plus COSO 2013 News | Norman Marks on Governance, Risk Management, and Audit.