@Risk

While concerns about global economic uncertainty continue to be top of mind for business leaders, other significant issues –such as fraud and ethics, mergers and acquisitions, large programs, new product introductions and business continuity –are emerging to further complicate business strategies and performance.

In fact, according to the new 2012 PwC State of the Internal Audit Profession study, businesses are asking internal audit to play an increased role in helping companies navigate the rapidly changing risk landscape. To illustrate my point, here are a few key findings from the report: (more…)

European insurers are racing to meet Solvency II requirements by the January 1, 2014 deadline, and many are facing a stiff head wind, particularly with respect to their reliance on third parties for data, the sophisticated risk modeling requirements and the difficulties associated with obtaining sufficiently detailed fund data.

More specifically, a new study by BNP Paribas Securities Services and InteDelta found that insurers are facing key challenges around: (more…)

The US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has proposed a set of recommended best practices to help the pharmaceutical industry improve supply chain integrity and reduce risks of counterfeit or mishandled medicines.

Improvements like these are long overdue. As I reported last spring, research from PwC concluded that many pharmaceutical supply chains have suffered from what amounts to benign neglect. As a result, they are inefficient, under-utilized and ill-equipped to cope with new medicines, cost pressures and health reform expectations.

Sure, in today’s global economy relationships between suppliers and other business entities are often opaque and difficult to track, but clearly, it’s time for the pharmaceutical industry to step up to better ensure that medicines can be traced back to their original manufacturer, are not adulterated or counterfeited and are transported to their intended destination with their quality intact.

Too many companies have discovered the hard way that “willful blindness” only increases their culpability in the eyes of Federal agents, regulators who now are cracking down on businesses that aren’t compliant with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Don’t take that kind of risk. Resolve that this is the year to start better managing your multiple supplier master databases as you monitor and mitigate supplier risk in a global operating arena.

“There is incentive for all players in the pharmaceutical industry—large and small companies, regulators and standards-setting bodies—to come to some agreement on hotbutton issues such as track and trace technology and, at the larger level, to codify what constitutes a solid, universal approach to global supply chain integrity,” said Praveen Tyle, Ph.D., chief science officer for USP.

USP’s proposed standard covers four main areas: (more…)

Commercial transportation fleet owners need to better screen and qualify drivers in order to ensure compliance with new federal initiatives, according to the LexisNexis 2011 Commercial Driver Safety Report released last week.

The study revealed several troubling trends indicating a growing gap between compliance and safety programs.  For instance, the research found that commercial driver applications with incomplete or inaccurate information increased 20 percent in 2011, reaching 31.42 percent, up from 11.78 percent in 2010.

In addition, commercial drivers’ motor vehicle reports (MVRs) with adverse findings, which can indicate one or more violations (such as a revoked license), are consistently increasing steadily year after year –rising from 48.2 percent in 2008 to 50.33 percent in 2011.

And, with regard to drug testing: (more…)

Last month, I reported that many companies are struggling to keep pace with the compliance and risk policies necessary for effective social media governance.

Now, HP has released new global research indicating that organizations also face increased threats from an even more fundamental policy and procedures issue: poor control and oversight of sensitive and confidential workplace data.

According to the new study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, many companies say they have well-defined policies for individuals with privileged access rights to specific IT systems. However, almost 40 percent were unsure about enterprise-wide visibility into specific rights, or whether those with privileged access rights met compliance policies.

The survey, which focused on more than 5,000 IT operations and security managers across the US, the UK, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Spain, also found that: (more…)