Welcome to the first edition of our english newsletter

Stock-listed companies all over the world have learnt to live with Corporate Governance, Risks and Compliance. In Europe listed companies have now to embrace a growing number of challenges related to implementing compliance, risk, governance and internal controls issues, when the 4th, 7th, and 8th EU directives have to be put into operations mode. It is now our turn in Europe to understand the ever increasing number of rules, regulations and directives and implement Governance, Risks and Compliance standards that have caused much concern in the US and other countries.

We have introduced a new website www.copenhagencompliance.com to promote a conference to be held in Copenhagen 22. November 2007 that addresses these issues.

News
US multinationals find that SOX 806 is in conflict in Europe
After four years of enactment, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is bumping against local laws in foreign countries, making it difficult to enact certain provisions of the Investors Protection Act. A German labour court ruled that Wal-Mart’s proposed whistleblower process—implementing a hot line for employees to report on colleagues violates German law, because whistleblower and other policies are introduced without prior approval.
What to expect from EuroSox
Business leaders of European stock listed companies have a couple of years to prepare for compliance of the three EU directives that form EuroSox. European stock listed companies have now to gear up in order to strengthen their financial reporting processes and internal controls.
News on Eurosox.dk
From Risk Management to Risk Governance
To meet the popular demand, the current rule based compliance burden of SOX will probably be shifted to a more principle-based approach as in Europe and other countries. This relaxation places added focus on particular internal controls that are associated with the greatest material risk. In addition companies will be required to provide documentation and support of their high-risk controls.
Courses
Recent surveys have shown that compliance training and competency of accounting and finance personnel as one of the greatest challenges that face the European companies listed on stock exchanges.
Preview of the next newsletter
Checklists
An effective compliance program has to be consistent with the size, complexity, range of operation and organization of a company. A one-size-fits-all or a top-down check list approach, that treats all Governance, Risks or Compliance (GRC) issues as being equal, is not a solution. The checklists are designed only to provide indications that a "canaries in a coal mine" does. If your organisation's program for monitoring GRC issues is weak, it generally speaks to the overall control culture and risk management. Therefore weak GRC is a canary that's stopped singing — an indication of potential trouble.
Eurosox survey
We will initiate an online survey on 'How prepared is your company to implement EuroSox'. For comparison purposes we will also present the results of another survey 'Post SOX implementation experiences of US Companies'.

The information contained in this newsletter is provided for informational purposes only. While efforts were made to verify the completeness and accuracy of the information provided, it is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, express or implied. Controllers ApS shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related to, this newsletter. You can subscribe here or, if you are already a subscriber, unsubscribe here. Copyright 2006-2009 Controllers Aps.