A pair of recent surveys by Adaptive Planning, in conjunction with the BPM Forum, suggests more than half of financial executives are bracing for another downturn, a double dip recession. The first survey from February shows 51 percent expecting a W-shaped (double dip) recovery. For 67 percent, any meaningful improvement in jobs won’t happen until 2011.

The second survey, conducted a few months later, showed similar results, which suggests that the economy has stabilized. “People expected improvement, but clearly it is not happening as fast as they hoped,” commented Bill Soward, Adaptive Planning CEO.

The latest bouncing around of the major stock indices considerably below their highs for the year, along with European debt problems and the Gulf oil disaster, only add to the gloom. Still, Soward suggests that there are steps financial managers should take to navigate this bumpiness. more

How would you rate your organization’s performance in dealing with its sales-and-use tax obligations — best-in-class, industry average, or laggard? If you’re not sure, or you suspect you’re in that last category, you might want to take a look at a new report from Aberdeen Group that sets out to isolate the factors that distinguish the top performers from the so-so operations as well as from, let’s say, the seriously sales-and-use-tax challenged. more

To what extent does risk management need to be better aligned with internal control?

That’s the essential question within a new survey you can complete in 15 to 20 minutes.

The survey represents a joint effort among The Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO).

The objectives of the research are threefold:

• Investigate how risk management and internal control frameworks, standards, and/or guidance are being used around the globe;

• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing risk management and internal control systems; and

• Determine the need for international alignment among the various national frameworks, standards, and guidance that already exist in this area. ###

I saw a new survey on the evolution of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and my first reaction was: How quaint – do people really still do that?

First, I apologize for my removed insensitivity. I am removed for a couple of reasons, including the fact that I’ve invested the vast majority of my research time in the past 18 months on risk management: enterprise risk management (ERM), risk culture, risk committee, human risk, model risk, scenario planning, etc.

Also, the term “SOX” sparked a little nostalgia for someone who started writing about SOX compliance the day the act appeared … well before everyone and their mom started writing (or, in many cases, “typing”) about GRC.

Despite the onslaught of GRC content and my own personal focus on risk management lately, SOX compliance continues to evolve, particularly for folks in the trenches who are too busy adding value (the survey suggests) to blog about their process, technology, and relationship work. more

As leaders of the G-20 nations gear up for a summit in Toronto this weekend, a “progressive” alliance of lawmakers in the European Parliament has unleashed the ultimate weapon in a bid to force Canada to sign on to proposals for a global financial transaction tax. The group has launched a “Twitterstorm” against Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, a staunch opponent of the tax scheme, and is threatening to bombard him mercilessly with tweets until he capitulates. more