While 70 percent of senior compliance executives in the U.S. indicated that corruption flourishes in many areas of the world, only 25 percent of these executives say their companies avoid doing business in those countries as a way of limiting bribery and corruption risks, according to a new KPMG survey of 214 U.S. and U.K. compliance executives.

Most of these respondents probably have not conducted business in Angola, Chad, Sudan, Somalia, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Afghanistan or Uzbekistan. These countries rate as the “most corrupt” nations on the 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, published by Transparency International. more

Get used to this headline.

As I’ve discussed before, the global skills gap is growing because of demographics and economics (specifically, the developed world’s evolution to a service/knowledge-based economy).

ManpowerGroup’s annual “Talent Shortage Survey,” released last week, indicates more than half (52 percent) of U.S. employers have trouble filling “mission-critical positions.” Last year, the same study found only 14 percent of U.S. companies experienced the same difficulty. more

The title of a recent KPMG study, “A New Role for New Times: Opportunities and Obstacles for the Expanding Finance Function,” suggests that the finance function, like the universe, is expanding.

Recent developments inside (and outside) corporate brand management teams also indicate that the marketing function is currently exerting the strongest gravitational pull on corporate finance capabilities, especially in risk management.

The upshot? Get your finest risk management minds over to the marketing and brand teams as soon as possible. more

Darn you, Preet Bharara.

As a fellow Class of ’90 college graduate, his recent accomplishments, hard work and glowing profiles give me a dose of early-40s anxiety (what, exactly, have I accomplished in my professional life?). And double-darn him: New York Magazine reports that he’s responsible for taking away one of my favorite hobbies.

Of course, Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is in the news for taking away years of free time from Raj Ranjaratnam, the founder of hedge fund firm Galleon. Ranjaratnam faces a possible prison sentence of up to 19.5 years (under Federal Sentencing Guidelines, though many observers point to a more likely range of 10 to 15 years when he is sentenced July 29) after his recent conviction. more

Two months ago, I checked in with Russ Miller at ClearBridge Compensation Group for assessment of how Dodd-Frank compliance issues were playing out in the first batch of proxy filings.

At the time, only one Fortune 500 company (among 30 filers) had failed to receive majority shareholder support (”say on pay”) of their executive compensation program, (and the vote was relatively close: 45 percent “for” votes and 55 percent “against” votes). Today, 93 percent of filers (at all sizes of publicly listed companies) have received majority shareholder support for executive pay programs.

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