Fixing the credit system is a necessary but not sufficient step for a long boom recovery. That the lack of credit caused the recession and that repairing the credit markets will fix the economy has for long been an assumption. However the truly systemic problems are stagnant wages for too many Americans and a legal and regulatory system that favors large established companies over smaller and more creative enterprises.

All over the world, the Board of directors currently face extraordinary challenges.

What boards often lack in their diversity are members with Street Credit (points you get for doing something impressive and bold. One can gain street credit in many ways, including, but not limited to, continuing to acquire freshness, constantly hustling, not selling-out, and of course, by making hit records). Perhaps one way to address this issue is to start each board meeting with an episode of Simpsons. Often it is alarming to observe how boards are enclosed in their glass structures without adequate business contact with the outside world.

Convergence to best practices is no longer enough. The global credit and financial crisis has clearly indicated that a new and revised international Corporate Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) order has to be implemented by almost all enterprises. In these turbulent times, emotions sometimes run high as survival is suddenly the order of the day, distorting the strategies and perspectives. In that light it is therefore alarming that so few companies have taken a complete overhaul of their GRC practices and instead act as if it is Business as Usual. One of the major reasons for overhaul is that GRC works and functions throughout the enterprise continue to be performed in silos. The GRC integration is often not understood and accepted throughout the enterprise because it is quite complicated.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the way Boards go around preparing a Strategy or a plan for the enterprise. Often the senior management team presents a strategic plan and discusses it with the board and getting their approval to fulfill the requirements of the various charters. Probably strategy consultants are involved in preparing the initial paper/draft to make sure that all issues are covered for either the board or managements decision.

Krisen har affødt akut behov for at styrke både forsvar og angreb i ledelserne. Bremselængden i de strategiske beslutninger skal forkortes mærkbart. Bestyrelsesmedlemmer og ledere med forstand på produktivitet, risikostyring og vækst er i sigtekornet, og de offentlige ledere skal med på vognen. Med tilladelse fra Dagbladet Børsen vedlægger vi 2010 GRC focus.

Please read Kersis thoughts on Governance, Risk, and Compliance.

Whistleblowerordningen er en kontrolinstans mod overgreb.

Tobin Tax eller tåbe skat?

Flere virksomheder er i gang med at sikre, de opfylder de nye rapporteringskrav om interne kontroller (§107b årsregnskabsloven). Derudover er udbredelsen af mange elementer af hele Corporate Governance, Risk Management og Compliance området, den sunde konsekvens fra finanskrisen. Virksomhederne fortsætter deres indsats på at have en særlig fokus på GRC. Derfor har vi planlagt en række ’morgenmøder’ for at belyse området i løbet af 2010.

2009 har været et anstrengende år for flere virksomheder. Men året har også budt på en række interessante begivenheder, som har krævet fokus. Jeg for min del har naturligvis udelukkende koncentreret mig om Corporate Governance, Risk Management og Compliance (GRC) aktiviteter inspireret af Præsident Obamas stabschef, Rahm Emanuels ord: Vi bør ikke lade en så alvorlig krise gå til spilde.

The European Commission has now excluded the U.S. from a deal that will allow audit oversight bodies operating inside the European Union to share their working papers with professional supervisors in other countries.

How Credit Cards Will Change In 2010. Like it or not, credit cards are a major part of all western households. During the past several laws have governed the Credit card transactions, PCI being the most predominant.

In this and future newsletters we continue to focus on some of the IT Tools that are available on the International market. In this newsletter we focus on the GRC solutions provided by MetricStream.

Gartner and Forrester Research rank MetricStream as a market leader in the area of software for Governance, Risk and Compliance. In 2009, MetricStream has provided IT solutions to UBS, Societe Generale, Philips, Roche, NASDAQ-OMX, Fresenius Kabi etc.

Why are the trials under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act multiplying 30 years after its implementation? Is it yet another example of decade long non compliance that has provided Securities and Exchange Commission almost a billion dollars in penalties?

At the annual meeting of The Danish Financial Economists the issue was once again revisited. Some say that the “The era of the big bank is over,” others claim that megacorporations need megabanks to meet their needs.

The call to limit the size of financial firms has come from former Federal Reserve Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker, as well as some economists. Europeans are considering a similar move.