Control Chatter
April 2023
News that Control Professionals need to know
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All digital credentials have now been issued
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Test your Knowledge of Internal Control
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The Internal Control Institute has developed two mini assessments to test your knowledge. A CICS Common Body of Knowledge Mini Assessment that helps an individual determine their knowledge as it relates to organizational governance and control practices. Results point out areas of knowledge that may require additional training and experience. The assessments also provides a measurement to the individual's readiness for CICS certification.
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Start becoming an Internal Control professional today! | |
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The ICI "Certification Series" of online courses |
The ICI "Certification Series" has been completely updated and is available online to everyone around the world! Course content prepares individuals to design and/or assess internal control and to assist management in installing internal control processes. In addition, the series prepares candidates for the Certified Internal Control Specialist (CICS) Examination. To review the course catalog click
To register for one or all of the online training programs click here:
Online course pricing has been reduced by over 70%
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Internal Control Chatter
Each month the staff of The Internal Control Institute reviews hundreds of articles related to Internal Control and Corporate Governance. Here are brief summaries of some of the top articles (along with links to the original article) that may be of interest to you.
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Corporations were never supposed to write the rules of the game. Now they need to help make them better for capitalism to survive
BYMAUREEN KLINE
fortune.com
April 24, 2023
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60 years of lobbying have helped corporations shape policy in multiple arenas.
In 1962, Milton Friedman said “There is one and only one social responsibility of business–to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.”
Read The Article
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Five Ways to Help Clients Maintain Accuracy in Financial Reporting
The future of financial reporting will show an increased use of automation and artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency and accuracy of an organization’s checks and balances.
By Adedibu Adesokan
cpapracticeadvisor.com
Apr. 21, 2023
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Accurate and timely financial reporting is critical for businesses. It provides a clear and concise picture of a business’s financial health, helping executives to make informed decisions and maintain the trust of investors, lenders, and other stakeholders by promoting transparency. By seeing exactly where money is being spent and potentially wasted, focus can be turned to more profitable endeavors. Not only does transparency build trust with those currently invested in a company, but it can also increase a business’s access to additional funding through banks and other lenders by showing a good financial investment opportunity, especially for small- to medium-sized businesses.
Read The Article
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DOJ Updates FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy
Legal Updates
huschblackwell.com
April 21, 2023
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On January 17, 2023, Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Kenneth Polite, Jr. announced updates to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) Corporate Enforcement Policy. Since the inception of the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy in 2017, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been “rewarding companies that do the right thing when learning about possible misconduct.” Now, DOJ has further incentivized disclosure of FCPA misconduct and full and willing cooperation with an investigation. With a voluntary disclosure, full cooperation, timely and appropriate remediation, and full disgorgement, entities may be able to receive a declination of prosecution and greatly reduced sentencing, even when there are aggravating circumstances.
Read The Article
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Study Finds Negative Impact on Audit Partners who Give Adverse Internal Control Opinions
By Soyoung Ho
tax.thomsonreuters.com
April 24, 2023
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As regulators review audit independence requirements to figure out whether the rules should be changed in order to promote auditor objectivity and skepticism, a recent academic study points to a negative incentive system that may impair independence and bring down audit quality. The study found that audit firms “are significantly more likely to remove” a partner from a continuing engagement when the partner issued an adverse internal control opinion in the previous year. Such problem is tied to the client-pay audit model, which critics say produces inherent conflicts of interest.
Read The Article
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Former Venezuelan National Treasurer and Her Husband Sentenced in Money Laundering and International Bribery Scheme
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
justice.gov
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
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The former National Treasurer of Venezuela and her husband were each sentenced today to 15 years in prison for their roles in a multibillion-dollar bribery and money laundering scheme. According to court documents, Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillen, 49, and her husband, Adrian José Velásquez, 43, accepted and laundered over $136 million in bribes from co-conspirator Raúl Gorrin Belisario, a Venezuelan billionaire businessman who owned Globovision news network. Gorrin allegedly paid bribes to Díaz, including through Velásquez, to obtain access to purchase bonds from the Venezuela National Treasury at a favorable exchange rate, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars of profit. The conspiracy involved bulk cash hidden in cardboard boxes, offshore shell companies, Swiss bank accounts, and international wire transfers allegedly sent by Gorrin for Díaz and Velásquez’s benefit, including to purchase multiple private jets and yachts, and to fund a high-end fashion line started by Díaz and Velásquez in South Florida.
Read The News Release
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Internal Control Over Sustainability Reporting (ICSR) Update
fticonsulting.com
April 20, 2023
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On March 30th, 2023, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) released supplemental guidance for using the globally recognized 2013 COSO Internal Control-Integrated Framework (ICIF) to achieve effective internal control over sustainability reporting (ICSR). In COSO’s press release on the new guidance, COSO Chair Lucia Wind notes that “This new supplemental guidance is significant and extremely timely given upcoming final rules on climate risk from the SEC and ISSB, not to mention the journey organizations are on to build sustainable management principles into their core mission, purpose, governance, and strategies.”2 Douglas Hileman, FSA, CRMA, P.E., a co-author of the new supplemental guidance notes, “Many groups provide data and information for Sustainability reporting – Environmental, HR, Operations, Procurement, Real Estate. The document is designed to foster communication and collaboration between those who know internal controls and those who don’t.”
Read The Call to Action
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California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed last month, making it the biggest lender to go down after the global crisis of 2007-08. The speed at which a bank with assets of over $200 billion went down is alarming and raises several questions, including about flaws in the US’s banking architecture. SVB collapse has once again spotlighted the question of who should be held responsible in the event of a corporate failure. In such cases, statutory auditors are easy targets, as they are the ones who sign off on a company’s accounts and are required to give an appraisal of the firm’s ability to survive the year ahead.
Read The Article
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Top 10 International Anti-Corruption Developments for March 2023
mofo.com
12 Apr 2023
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Designed for busy in-house counsel, compliance professionals, and anti-corruption lawyers, this newsletter summarizes some of the most important international anti-corruption law and enforcement developments from the past month, with links to primary resources. This month we ask: Which companies resolved Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) allegations with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)? Why was cryptocurrency executive Samuel Bankman-Fried charged with violating the FCPA? How will new and revised policies from DOJ’s Criminal Division impact FCPA enforcement? The answers to these questions and more are here in our March 2023 Top 10.
See the Top Ten List
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Mitigating the risk of fraud
jamaica-gleaner.com
April 23, 2023
IF YOU operate a small enterprise in Jamaica, there are two very compelling reasons that make proactively mitigating the risk of fraud an urgent priority for 2023 and the foreseeable future. The first is that historically, small businesses have always been more vulnerable to internal and external fraud and theft than large enterprises, regardless of where in the world they are domiciled. This is because by nature, small businesses often lack the financial resources, expertise, manpower, infrastructure, and processes to implement and sustain robust internal controls and anti-fraud measures that effectively prevent or mitigate the risk of loss from fraud and pilfering.
Read The Article
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HELP US IMPROVE INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS WORLDWIDE:
The Internal Control Institute™ (ICI) improves organizational Internal Control worldwide by providing training, products and services and individual Professional Certifications
recognized internationally. The Institute's Board of Advisors has determined it would like to further expand into areas where it is not directly represented. ICI provides world-class
programs and its intellectual property to affiliates free of charge and shares all program
revenue with them. If your organization is interested in partnering with ICI to earn revenue while you contribute to the development of the internal control profession worldwide please contact Dr. Michael Pregmon, Jr., Chief Operations Officer, by email at mpregmon@internalcontrolinstitute.org or by phone at 727-538-4113 in the USA.
Below is a list of WorldWide Affiliates currently serving the profession. If your area is not represented please consider partnering with ICI
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ICI World Wide Affiliates
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Contact: Mr Aminur Rahman
Email: info@aaa-associate.com
Tel: +88 01749 400600
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Contact: Soulémane BABA DAMAGUI
Email: sbabadamagui@gmail.com
Tel: +0022997492600
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Contact: Mr Humphrey Chawafambira
Email: humphrey@internalcontrolinstitute.co.bw
Tel: +267 75618647
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Contact: Mr Eduardo Person Pardini
Email: eduardo@crossoverbrazil.com
Tel: +55 11 2599 8360
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Contact: Mr Eric Kamegne
Email: eric.kamegne@ipeonline.net
Tel: +237 658 292 978
Our first CICS session in April is online only
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Contact: Mr Qiu Jianting
Email: cert@neikong.com
Tel: 400-098-1119 or 010 68004176
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Contact: Mr. Yves Dupont
Email: info@icib.org
Tel: 0032 2 305 35 25
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Contact: Mr Summit Goyal
Email: info@bncglobal.in
Tel: +91 9810 575 613
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Contact: Mr Nereo Guzman Mendoza
Email: nguzman@businesssolutionvalley.com
Tel: +52 811 181 3514
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Contact: Mr Belal Abdul Jabbar
Email: b.ajabbar@osooltc.com
Tel: +962 6 5927171
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Contact: Mr Yazid Berrada
Email: yazid.berrada@bcloud.ma
Tel: +212 (0) 522-872-585
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Contact: Mr Joel Aluko
Email: tunjialuko5@yahoo.com
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Contact: Mr Muhammad Farooq Hammodi
Email: nardac_k@yahoo.com
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Contact: Mr Cosmin Serbanescu
Email: contact@incir.ro
Tel: +40 752 525 525
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Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia & Taiwan China |
Contact: Mr Bob Seetoh
Email: bobseetoh@theglobalgrc.com
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Contact: Ms Sedie Jane Masite
Email: sediem52@gmail.com or info@ciagol.com
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Contact: Ms Nadia Yaich
Email: nadia.yaich@bfc.com.tn
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Contact: Ms Ilknur Tunc
Email: ilknur.tunc@iciturkey.org
Tel: +90 312 442 50 15
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Contact: Mr Jesus Salazar Ras
Email: salazarras1970@gmail.com
Tel: +58 426 737 8096 or + 58 416 291 3788
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Contact: Mr Nguyen Thanh Tung
Email: info@fmit.vn
Tel: 848 3803 5020
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Contact: Dr Proctor Nyemba
Email: admin@internalcontrolinstitute.co.zw
Tel: +263 4 443124
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Control Quotes:
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. -Benjamin Franklin
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The Internal Control Institute™ (ICI) is a worldwide organization devoted exclusively to internal control and corporate governance. The Institute is dedicated to the development of world-class educational programs and best practice guidelines on internal control and corporate governance, based on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the COSO internal control framework.
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