It is once again a time of the year when it’s time to let the old dogs out and some new ones in. The first weeks of each New Year marks the changing of the sled team for those who follow the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Dogs while others adjust the GRC mix to meet new challenges.

Meet the Creator of the premier performance management system: Tools for clarifying corporate vision and aligning people, business units and resources with a unified business strategy. Author of seven books, including forthcoming The Execution Premium. One of the most valuable speakers on business strategy and leadership today.

The EU needs common rules to facilitate 'whistleblower codex' & avoid corporate confusion, in order to protect employees of publicly traded companies who provide evidence of fraud.

US multinationals find that SOX section 806 (PROTECTION FOR EMPLOYEES OF PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES WHO PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF FRAUD) is in conflict in Europe.

To adhere to the EU directives and the Governance, Risk and compliance (GRC) mandates and frameworks, European IT companies (and European branches of foreign companies) are going to drive demands for tools, services and systems which help them to comply with these binding and legal GRC regulations.

In the UK, a ‘Comply or explain’ regime has been in place for over a decade. The "comply-or-explain" approach calls for companies to disclose the extent of compliance with corporate governance codes or explain deviations from them. In the US where a ‘rule-based’ approach is customary, it’s rather a ‘Comply or Die’ approach.

On the 22nd January 2009 the Swedish authorities issued the contents of their 8th directive. For complete details see the attached details of the law.

The new regulation will be in effect from the 1st July 2009.

It was a “Christmas calendar” for adults with every Hollywood ingredient imaginable – fraud, violence, drugs, a mistress, secret homes, fast cars, luxury yachts, missing files, shady business associates and so on. The entire Danish press had a field day.

Recently the external auditors were grilled by members of the UK parliament in London, concerning their role in the banking crisis. In Miami; lawyers are gearing up for a landmark case against BDO, the fifth-biggest accounting firm.

Fraud can be easier to cover up in the good times, while others are tempted to commit fraud to cover up bad news. In the next issue we look at some of the issues audit companies are facing from litigation to audit standards.