Are you as curious as I am about why these questions have not been solved?

• Why can’t traffic intersection stoplights be more variable based on street sensors that monitor the presence, location, and speed of approaching vehicles? Then you would not have to impatiently wait at a red light when there is no cross-traffic.

• Why can’t a call center route your inbound phone call to a more specialized call center representative based on your phone number and previous call topics or transactions? And, once connected, why can’t that call rep offer you rule-based deals or suggestions most likely to maximize your customer experience? Then you might get a quicker and better solution to your call. more

Based on a recent announcement by Moody’s, it looks like credit rating agencies are beginning to appreciate the underlying operational risk behind many of the securities they evaluate. As we all know now, asset-backed securities such as Residential Mortgage Backed Securities (RMBS), Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS), Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLO), and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO), to name a few, are heavily dependent on the successful transfer and underlying servicing processes. When those operational processes fail, the value of the securities can drop precipitously. more

The eBook I mentioned in my previous post provides a refresher on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance approaches as well as a look at how analytics can strengthen FCPA compliance capabilities.

Today, “eBooks” range from dashed-off slide decks to World Economic Forum-worthy novellas. Fortunately, this 29-pager, “Don’t Get Bitten by the FCPA: Leveraging Audit Analytics for Compliance Testing,” qualifies as “literate PowerPoint.” It’s easy enough to click through the electronic document to flag relevant data.

This information includes:

• A summary of the FCPA and of growing regulatory scrutiny of compliance with the act;

• A rundown of the act’s anti-bribery and accounting provisions;

• A list of FCPA compliance best practices (as cited by the U.S. Department of Justice); and

• An introduction to how audit analytics can assist the compliance effort (mainly via the automated red-flagging of potentially suspect transactions and vendors). ###

Every year, D.C.-based law firm Miller & Chevalier polls tax leaders at large U.S.- and foreign-based multinationals to get their views on the legislative outlook in Washington. Given this kind of sample for the survey, it’s no surprise that taxation of international operations regularly appears at or near the top of respondents’ list of concerns, and this year it’s Number 1, cited by just over one-third of survey participants.

What is a surprise, though, is that financial statement disclosure issues have zoomed higher on leaders’ agendas. more

GRC typically is considered the CFO’s problem since most of the issues revolve around SOX and other financial regulations. IT, however, plays a central role in the GRC process.

According to a recent Gartner Magic Quadrant report GRC itself is undergoing a big transition. As Gartner notes: The enterprise GRC platform market has expanded from a tactical focus on regulatory compliance to a strategic focus on enterprise risk management. From an IT product standpoint, that means adding or integrating with business performance management and scorecarding.

Although GRC is primarily a concern of publicly held companies, even private companies can benefit from the control and discipline that GRC requires as a best practice. Dan Wilhelms, president of SymSoft Corp., which provides ControlPanel GRC, however, thinks that IT often fumbles in some basic ways when addressing GRC. more