The world has seen the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a medium-sized bank focused on tech startups after panicked depositors rushed to withdraw their money. Several factors led to the collapse of the bank, one of which was the absence of diversification, and a typical bank run scenario occurred where a large number of customers withdrew their deposits simultaneously due to concerns about the bank’s ability to meet its financial obligations.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the go-to-bank for US tech start-ups deemed the largest institutional failure since the 2008 financial crisis. The bank’s failure is majorly attributed to its risk management failure, lack of accountability among the board, inadequate control measures, and poor communication.

Internal controls in any organization are of paramount importance as they are defined as rules and procedures established by management or those charged with governance to ensure the timely achievement of the organization’s goals, mission, and vision.

Organizational exposure to compliance risk is increasing consistently while compliance costs are skyrocketing. A reactive approach to compliance creates complexity and forces organizations to be less agile. Previously, organizations viewed compliance as discrete obligations and created multiple siloed initiatives to meet the objectives. These initiatives typically rely on manual compliance management processes burdened with costly assessments managed using error-prone spreadsheets, documents, and email. This reactive methodology makes adapting to new regulatory requirements and changing business environments difficult.

The primary objective of organizations has always been to improve and safeguard the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations, along with ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations. However, implementing these priorities, in reality, can be extremely challenging. Recent incidents of corporate failures and data breaches have exposed businesses’ vulnerabilities, leading to a surge in demand for increased regulatory oversight and a more compliance-focused mindset.

Regulatory compliance is when businesses follow state, federal, and international laws and regulations to operate their business. Regulatory compliance helps businesses to set the highest state of conduct, integrity, safety, and ethical behavior in business.

Today organizations need to be on their toes to stay up-to-date with the complex and rapidly evolving regulatory changes. And if organizations are not ready, it may take them up to a year to implement all the regulatory changes. This can have several implications, including impacting revenue and lawsuits.

In today’s complex and strictly regulated world, internal controls are a prerequisite as they protect your organization from unethical behavior, violations of regulatory requirements, and monetary losses. However, are just building internal controls enough for your organization to manage and reduce risks?

The answer is no. Internal controls are essential, but they are continually evaluated for the information they produce in terms of quality, speed, and accuracy. Knowing where to begin when creating a system of internal controls can occasionally be challenging. As a result of these challenges, organizations are changing the landscape of their internal control framework through automation.

The risk and compliance landscape is constantly changing. In times of uncertainty, with economic limitations, geopolitical instability, regulatory changes, trade volatility, and a growing rate of cybercrime looming large on organizations of all sizes and industries, the range of risks facing compliance officers has become more complicated than ever before.

When it comes to hiring for a compliance leadership role, it’s important to look for certain qualities and skills to ensure the success of your organization. A strong compliance leader should have a deep understanding of relevant regulations, strong ethical standards, and the ability to communicate effectively and lead a team.

The regulations exist for a reason – they help ensure that organizations operate in a legal and compliant manner. They also protect the stakeholders’ interests and uphold the reputation and integrity of the organizations. If your organization fails to comply, it leads to fines, penalties, and even criminal charges. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced that it filed 760 total enforcement actions in the fiscal year 2022, a whopping 9 percent increase over the previous year.

In today’s fast-paced and digitalized world, organizations are exposed to numerous risks that can jeopardize financial reporting or result in the loss of business assets. To prevent unintentional but expensive errors and premeditated fraud, and to improve financial reporting, organizations must set up a strong internal control system. 

Internal control refers to the policies and procedures implemented by an organization to ensure the integrity of financial and accounting information, promote operational efficiency, and prevent fraud.

The VComply app now integrates with Microsoft Teams, making Teams another communication and collaborative channel for VComply users. This helps compliance professionals and end users stay on track with compliance responsibilities. Staying compliant with regulations and standards can be a complex and time-consuming process, especially for organizations with multiple teams and departments. This integration brings… Continue reading VComply now integrates with Microsoft Teams

The compliance landscape is constantly changing and organizations are often challenged to meet the requirements of multiple regulations and frameworks. Keeping up with ever-changing, often overlapping, requirements are a significant burden for most organizations, leading to audit fatigue and frustration for everyone involved.

As we enter 2023, we are still grappling with a slew of pandemic-related challenges in addition to the looming recession, talent shortage, and physical and mental health problems. Issues like inflation, shifting consumer and societal norms, and global geopolitical turmoil are adding to the increasing pressure on organizations.

The standard information security management system helps organizations with manifold benefits like complying with the data privacy laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act and EU General Data Protection Regulation. But who should be SIO 27001 compliant, and can you become ISO 27001 compliant?

A good governance and compliance program sets the foundation for meeting any organization’s compliance and governance objective. When done right and on time, this proactive approach can help you minimize any reactive incident response. 

With the chaos and uncertainty brimming, organizations are facing risks at each step. From reduced employee productivity to third-party mismanagement to data theft, compliance risk along with technological risk factors, organizations are having a difficult time navigating through these challenges. Operational risk management is the need of the hour to help organizations to stay on track and increase their operational efficiency while staying compliant.

It’s a great feeling to be recognized!

We are extremely proud to announce that we received top G2 awards in 4 categories, including number one position in the ease-of-use category. The quarterly awards by G2 are a proof that VComply is accomplishing our mission to simplify compliance operations. We help our customers around the world to achieve their compliance goals.

Unlike market risk, operational risks are largely linked to the internal processes and policies of an insurance company. On occasions, losses arising from the organization’s operational risks may exceed those stemming from credit losses. 

The insurance industry lately is facing consistently increasing regulatory obligations along with the rising demand to adopt new technologies and exceed customer expectations.
With rising inflation, perpetual war, and the constant loom of a major recession, the insurance industry is facing the heat to navigate through uncertainty and chaos.

COSO framework (The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations) is an integral name in the world of risk management. With the explosion of cyber threats, and exponentially increasing uncertainty from multiple aspects, organizations were in dire need of an integrated risk management framework that could navigate them through the intricacies and uncertainties and that’s how COSO has come into existence.

A compliance officer in any organization across any industry ensures that the processes across your organization are transparent and compliant with all the industry regulations and guidelines. An insurance compliance officer is expected to stay up-to-date with all the changing rules and regulations and keep the organization updated to avoid lawsuits or legal complications. 

No business is risk-proof, and financial services are no exception. While you cannot make your business completely risk-proof, you can take measures to mitigate the risk and safeguard your business. Risk assessment and analysis are the first steps in understanding your risks and their impact on your business. Once you know this, you can take appropriate measures to mitigate the risks.

How do you put it across to your board members and persuade them to have GRC tech in your annual budget? Let’s dive in to understand how GRC software can help in cost savings.

The banking industry is going through a tectonic shift and 2023 is set to become one of the most exciting years in the banking events. The market downturn and economic volatility, the emergence of fintech and neo-banking,  all have set the notion for unprecedented and uncertain times ahead.

Implementing any new technology is challenging, and a lot depends on the nature of the business. But if you know the right steps, you can achieve the best possible outcome from the technology you are implementing.

A robust compliance program is one of the most critical aspects for an organization to succeed in a modern business environment. Experts believe that compliance and governance programs built on the foundations of values, beliefs, and ethics are critical.

Businesses are under increasing pressure to deliver products on time with high standards, but they’re struggling even more when it comes down health and safety concerns. These issues can lead into serious injuries or loss of life in the workplace as well financial damages that affect both businesses’ bottom lines – like plant closures due to an accident at your facility which resulted from poor ergonomic practices. Or what about the damage done by natural disasters such s hurricanes this summer causing extensive flooding right near one of our factories leaving them without power overnight during peak production periods ? And then there’s always PR reputations being tarnished because people don’t believe anymore

Since 2009, financial services’ compliance functions have undergone drastic changes and modifications and the pandemic only elevated them further. Banking institutions are now looking for a more efficient and streamlined compliance model to actively define and shape the firm’s next strategy and operational excellence. 

Are you still using spreadsheets for risk assessment, managing compliance, compliance audits, and tracking incidents? Probably, it’s time to switch to a GRC tool that can help you streamline compliance processes and support your compliance framework, risk management, analyze the gaps for corrective action plans, automate follow-ups and reporting, and do much more

GRC tools are software tools or applications that proactively manage compliance, risk, and governance programs across the company, help you control different processes by ensuring that all compliance guidelines are adhered to, and help you mitigate the risks of hefty penalties.

Running a successful company itself is a tedious task. Following all the parameters, abiding by all the norms, and getting prepped for the new security guidelines takes an enormous amount of effort and time. But even after following every step by the book, an enterprise organization gets asked by clients from time to time ‘are they secured enough?’. 

Do you want to enhance organization efficiency, reduce risks, and enact a unified governance policy? An effective GRC program is the answer.

For any organization to manage its business operations effectively, Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance (GRC) is a core framework that must be followed to manage its business activities, including IT operations that comply with regulatory requirements. The GRC strategy is an essential part of any business or organization. 

Business involves managing all internal and external factors that may hinder success. Chief compliance must dodge obstacles constantly in their business to complete every task. Prioritizing tasks can be challenging at times.

Along with process completion, new assets, user, employee, and process integration are unavoidable risks following each change.

As the risk environment continues to increase in complexity, it has never been more critical for risk managers to be strategic business partners. When enterprise risk management is aligned with business strategy, it can positively impact the organization’s revenue growth.

The recent economic downturn, conflicts in Ukraine, rising inflation and interest rates, and the slumping of the global economy indicate that a sharper slowdown in the global economic activity is most likely inevitable. 

Compliance management has drastically evolved in the past few years. And while companies don’t often feel it, these positive changes are helping hundreds of thousands of companies, and their executive teams grow consistently and avoid financial disasters that could cause significant problems within their organizations. 

Imagine this. You’re a U.S.-based non-profit that has to adhere to a minimum of 50 Federal, state-specific, and local regulations to keep receiving the grants. Right from the FDA and IRS to DOJ Federal laws, there are several other state-specific rules that you need to comply with. Monitoring and tracking the regulator compliance requirements are time-consuming. Doing it manually makes it even more cumbersome. 

Risk is often associated with note-worthy incidents or high-profile events, such as data breaches, natural disasters, health crises, or high-level corruption. However, the risk is not just the vulnerability to massive disruption, it is a product of uncertainty, and uncertainty is a constant. Uncertainty is not necessarily a bad thing, markets, and supply chains ebb and flows, regulations change and adapt to new conditions, and the industry evolves to maintain competitiveness. Along the way, many disruptions will arise. Risk assessment is the disciple of navigating that uncertainty, maintaining momentum through the small challenges, assessing the impact, and preparing to meet the difficult ones.

Integrated Risk Management (IRM) Framework views and analyzes risks that are unique to the organization and utilizes technology and effective procedures and practices in order to produce the most effective outcome. It is important to remember that improper risk management can be detrimental. The business may sink if it arranges its resources in a manner that has not fully prepared for every possibility.

Since the beginning of business whether they knew it or not organizations have always been analyzing risk and implementing mitigation procedures. It wasn’t until 2002 when Michael Rasmussen and OCEG finally defined the field of risk management and coined the term GRC (governance, risk, and compliance). The concept was revolutionary, in a time when the world of business was becoming ever-more complex the field of thought known as GRC outlined and defined the interconnectivity of common areas of risk and established methods of prevention.

ESG is an attempt to analyze the most important elements of an organization and how policies are regulated and applied. Organizations should address environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and reporting within their framework. Originally designed to better approach the most sustainable realms of investment, ESG has evolved into a ubiquitous public discussion that greatly impacts the business ecosystem.

Third-party relations have become a critical aspect of any business operation as the list of tools and skills required to conduct business has become quite lengthy. Organizations now rely on a network of third parties that can be outsourced. While outsourcing specific tasks can save time and be more financially feasible, it does come with its own set of risks. Outsourcing various operations leave the organization vulnerable to risks without any oversight and an effective policy management framework in place with clearly defined procedures.

Information security is not getting easier. Organization, technology, and data complexity has grown exponentially, and an adequate and effective IT security policy requires constant tracking and managing. Organizations are in a constant state of flux and change, and IT is in no way immune to this change. As the organization evolves, the underlying IT infrastructure is in a constant need to be stitched up and monitored.

Is your organization’s policy management framework optimized for hybrid operations? In response to the needs and requirements of employees in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations are offering their employees a hybrid working option or simply working completely remotely from home. In other words, many workers are going into the workplace part time and many others never even leave their homes. These offerings are done in the hopes that business will carry on as usual.

One of the most prominent challenges organizations face today is operationalizing and managing compliance programs and holding stakeholders accountable. Given the complexity of the compliance landscape, professionals in this field have different views on the concept of “operationalizing compliance management”.

Is your organization’s policy management framework integrated with the business? What does a modern organization that places emphasis on policy adherence resemble?  How can an organization integrate policy management within the context of the organization?  It is important to design a policy in the most effective manner possible. Policies should be designed to benefit all employees. There are many ways to make policies accessible for all workers but communicating the processes clearly cannot be overstated. If the workers do not understand the policies or if the policies have not been delivered to them in an accessible way, then there will be a gap between the goals of the organization and the mindset of the workers. These principles are essential and cannot be overstated.

Nonprofit organizations unlike for-profit organizations, are less directed by an operations staff and are largely managed by a committee. It becomes the role of the board to design structures and guidance for committees that will be relevant to the needs of the organization.

Compliance today is a monumental challenge in the context of continuous evolution, vast volumes of data, and change within the organization, regulations, and external risk environments. From nonstop regulatory change to updated processes, the compliance landscape is always changing for each organization making it necessary to develop agile compliance processes to meet the ever-growing list of demanding requirements.

Governance, risk, and compliance is a hot topic amongst organizations of all sizes. GRC principles are essential in developing sustainable operations in the uncertainty of the future. Each of these is a separate pillar of an organizational structure, but each relies on the other to maintain the integrity of the organization. Governance seeks to maintain strong, responsible, and diligent leadership. Risk management is the identification, preparedness, and mitigation of threatening uncertainties. And compliance ensures that the organization upholds the law and operates with integrity. Each of these helps build the foundation for the organization to move forward in a responsible and sustainable manner.

These words will ring true until the end of time, as many believe that the true path to happiness is giving rather than taking. Strangely enough, giving can often be more challenging than taking as being self-serving and self-interested is the easy route to go through life, while attempting to make the world a better place can be more of a struggle than many are willing to face. In our current and modern world of business, an increased emphasis on the culture of an organization is continually highlighted. Both regulatory bodies and the public are increasingly trending towards the demand of corporate ethical practices and principles. This puts a unique and intense pressure on compliance professionals in nonprofit organizations world-wide as they must take responsibility to build controls and procedures that establish an authentically ethical organization that acts with integrity.

In today’s modern world, it is becoming increasingly necessary for even non-profit organizations to stay on top of constant change and the ever-growing list of demanding regulations. Our current modern environment has grown into an increasingly complex and interconnected web of third-party relationships, distributed operations, global supply chains, compliance requirements etc. This puts a unique and intense pressure on compliance professionals within non-profit organizations world-wide as they must take responsibility to build controls and procedures that establish an authentically ethical organization that acts with integrity in such a dynamic environment. As non-profit organizations are exempt from federal and state taxes and have unique access to certain types of public funding, they consequently hold themselves accountable to the highest standards of ethical and compliance practices.

The first step to solving any problem is admitting that there is one. No matter how well an organization structures its governance, risk management, and compliance framework there will be issues that always slip through the cracks. Organizations must be aware of this and develop a holistic issue reporting and case management system with 360-degree awareness or issues and how they impact the organization risk and compliance profile.

If you travel to Denmark, you’ll find that when you enter the subway system there are no turnstiles prohibiting your access to the platform prior to providing payment or taping your metro card. Why is this you might ask if you’re an urban native anywhere else in the world? No, public transportation isn’t free. Denmark has achieved something that is absolutely unthinkable to many parts of the world, a prime culture of trust – a phenomenon that residents of major urban centers such as New York, London, and San Francisco would find baffling. A culture of trust means that compliance and adherence to rules is so high that creating checkpoints and protocols to ensure trust are virtually unnecessary because all actors are complying.

The world of compliance risk management is in a constant state of change. Because of this, organizations continuously struggle to ensure that their business operations are compliant not only with governmental regulations but also with ethical values. With this in mind, it seems that compliance teams worldwide are constantly playing catch up in determining what business units, departments, and processes are prone to compliance failures and which are not. Being behind on this process can be extremely dangerous to the organization as compliance failure can lead to a plethora of fines, setbacks, and a diminishing reputation among customers. It would seem to many compliance teams that nothing short of the ability to predict the future is suitable enough to identify and prevent emerging risks effectively. A compliance risks analysis may be able to give organizations exactly what they need to build a robust compliance program better and better mitigate the potential of emerging risk.

Regulatory change is accelerating. As industries grapple with new technologies and digital transformation, compliance teams face the monumental task of keeping up with the regulatory requirements. Modern business has become an integrated web of supply chains and third-party partnerships. While such evolutions are expected as markets change, the pervasiveness of these relatively young developments and the speed at which they influence the modern economy leaves regulators and compliance teams alike racing to address new forms of risk.

Chicago IL (May 25, 2022) — Ascent, an AI-based solution that automatically generates and updates targeted regulatory compliance obligations for firms across the financial services industry, today announces a partnership with VComply, a leading cloud-based Governance, Risk Management & Compliance (GRC) platform that helps streamline organizations’ compliance and risk management programs. Empowering compliance teams within credit unions and… Continue reading Ascent RegTech & VComply Partner to Create Compliance Solutions

Whether compliance is demanded through regulatory requirements or voluntary ethics and values, effective and efficient compliance is necessary for any organization. As the modern business world becomes increasingly complex and dynamic, the level of regulatory compliance grows with it. Increasing demand for robust cyber security and data privacy and rising environmental standards are only a few examples of the greater compliance standards imposed on organizations. Failure to abide by these standards can be detrimental to the organization’s financial standing or reputation.

Effective policies are an essential aspect of any organization as they dictate day-to-day processes whether that be legal and regulatory or internal processes determining success. The necessity for effective policies has only increased as the business world becomes more dynamic and complex. Organizations must ensure that their policy management is robust and dynamic to meet the needs of modern-day business.

Gone are the years of simplicity in business operations. Rapid growth and change in risks, regulations, globalization, distributed operations, competitive velocity, technology, and business data encumbers organizations of all sizes. Keeping business strategy, compliance, uncertainty, complexity, and change in sync is a significant challenge for boards and executives and management professionals throughout all levels of the business.

Organizations often fail to monitor and manage compliance controls effectively in an environment that demands agility. This results in the inevitable failure of compliance that provides case studies for future generations on how poor internal control management leads to the demise of organizations: even those with strong brands.

Organizations need to be organizations of integrity. What we communicate to the world about our policies, compliance and ethics practices, values, code of conduct, regulatory commitments, and now ESG statements is a reality in the organization and not fiction. The Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer (CECO) has become the Chief Integrity Officer of the organization. Integrity is a mirror. What we tell the world what the organization is about, is that what is truly reflected back to us in our behavior and operations?

Having a board-level compliance committee is now a standard in most organizations. Based on the regulation framework, processes, and internal structure, the role of these entities differs.

With ever-evolving regulatory landscapes and frameworks, staying compliant is more of an ongoing effort today. Compliance programs keep an organization abreast with the changing regulations so as to avoid any legal implications. Therein lies the need, but compliance is a lot more than just following regulation and minimizing corporate misconduct. The very fabric of a compliance program is woven into daily business operations. It lays down principles and ethical standards, which influence the organization’s policies and continues in a loop, affecting risk management, oversight, monitoring, and corrective action.

After Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, has come forward with the accusation that Facebook puts profit before the safety of people, the platform’s reputation has gone down the tubes. In another example, the 2016 account fraud scandal tarnished Wells Fargo’s reputation, and it faced tremendous backlash from shareholders and customers. Wells Fargo was considered one of the most reputed brands in the US till the account fraud scandal came out in 2016. The bank had to pay around $3 billion to settle its probes and fines.

Company policies, though variegated in content, work towards protecting and improving an organization on a handful of essential fronts. Experience indicates they are business-critical and legal lawsuits show they are unavoidable. However, as a course or principle of action, a policy isn’t to be reduced to a tool intended to placate strict regulatory bodies and maintain an untarnished public image. As much as it guides decision-making, a policy shapes the future and carries the power to effect change. Therefore, growing organizations do well to invest in better mechanisms for drafting, implementing, and updating policies.

Over the years, technology has become a critical part of the compliance ecosystem. AI and machine learning have redefined the approach and made it more efficient.
Through this blog post, you will see the benefits of compliance technology and how to choose the best technology for compliance management.

Through this blog post, you’ll learn how to assess compliance, what assessing compliance means, and key considerations when starting to assess your current compliance posture.

Policies and procedures are the underpinning elements by which an organization establishes its rules of conduct. Both serve to drive compliance, but do so through starkly different methods. One puts to paper the guidelines and rules that every organization expects its employees, and every other person connected to the company, to follow. The other, procedure, presents a step-by-step process for any company specific tasks and activities, thus establishing standards.

It is said that change is the only constant, and in the context of an organization, a crucial catalyst of change is policy. Company policies promote and sustain change, ensuring that new standards and ways of working trickle down to every level of the organization. Moving from policy to practice, however, demands strategic communication. You not only need to reach out to the right persons at the right time but want to get all aboard and rowing in synchrony.

The consequences that come with being non-compliant is huge. Considering the stringent regulatory requirements, internationally agreed on industry standards, and the need for internal efficiencies, it is imperative that organizations are proactive about compliance. But, staying on track with changing laws, regulations, and standards is a tedious process. Compliance automation can help solve these complex problems – streamline business processes, automate routine tasks, generate arduous reports in seconds and most importantly… improve overall organizational efficiency.

A remote audit or virtual audit came as a boon to audit teams during the unprecedented covid 19 crisis. It is a method of conducting an audit remotely using technology. Just like an onsite audit, it covers interview with management and employees, verification of documents and reports.

Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) management is an integral part of an organization’s management strategy. Once the management identifies the benefit of adopting a GRC platform, the next question that comes up is that how to choose the best GRC platform suitable to your organization? Not all platforms are the same. The key is to set the right expectations and perform the due diligence before you choose your vendor.

Growth is something that organizations have their eyes fixed on. They are cautious of wasting precious time and money in costly lawsuits, compliance risks resulting in penalties, or reputational damage. Internal controls help establish procedures and policies to keep the organization compliant, prevent employees from committing fraud, and improve the organization’s operational and financial efficiency.

When the internet and technology are the lifeblood of modern business operations, it is no wonder that data privacy has taken the center stage. According to a Pew Research Center report, 79% of consumers have raised concerns about personal data that organizations collect. These concerns have as much to do with discrimination and law as they do with ethics and policy. Across the EU, UK, USA, China, Singapore, and virtually every other location on the planet, the regulatory landscape for data privacy has changed and continues to evolve. In the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR enforceable in 2018) and its policies have effected change worldwide.

A holistic GRC management is incomplete without policy management. In an ideal world, policies guide an organization to follow the rules and regulations, prepare for internal and external audits, and finally keep the organizations away from risks. However, the reality seems to be different. Many of the organizations seem to have only very basic policy management system in place. It can cause severe consequences as it leaves you at the risk for financial losses, security breaches, and overlook the improvement initiatives.

The primary role of auditors is to help the organization remain compliant and meet its objectives efficiently. The growing and changing needs of stakeholders, crisis management requirements, and uncertainty have widened the scope of internal audits. In response to these requirements, new trends have emerged in the field of internal audit that will add value to the organization and guide it through the landscape of risks.

According to an analysis by Atlas VPN, credit card fraud cases surged by 104.7% when you compare Q1 of 2019 and 2020. Likewise, Julie Conroy, a research director at Aite Group, reported that by the end-2020, credit card fraud losses in the US amounted to a staggering $11 billion! These facts make it clear that the digital payment ecosystem is rife with vulnerabilities. After all, security gaps can emerge at various points of handling, storage, and transmission, such as at POS devices, e-commerce apps, Wi-Fi hotspots and personal computers.

The importance of good corporate governance for an organization’s success has been a topic discussed across. However, even though organizations keep in mind the principles, the different models and all the aspects of good governance, there is always scope for error and that is why issues in corporate governance are in abundance. Especially accountability issues.

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Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, and managing risks in an organization. In times of uncertainties, the organization looks to risk managers to make crucial decisions about risk management and mitigation. Risk officers are required to bring all stakeholders on the same page and decide on the organization’s risk appetite. Risk appetite and risk tolerance are the two essential concepts in risk management around which misconceptions and confusion are prevalent.

In the modern-day market and workplace, risk is a part and parcel of business operations. Considering the shift to remote working, threats and potential vulnerabilities are ever present, which is why risk management is now a top priority. As a matter of fact, in 2021, General Data Protection Regulation fines rose by around 40%. Big names like the Marriott and British Airways incurred fines of $23.8 million and $26 million, respectively, for data breaches. This is the cost of poor risk assessment and management controls in today’s economic climate. Thankfully, auditors and risk management teams can get ahead of such problem areas with clearly defined key risk indicators (KRIs).

Today’s organizations face a plethora of challenges managing compliance, keeping up with internal policies, and improving social security practices. Needless to say, that managing compliance and risk management programs manually is a painful task. Fortunately, there is an influx of software applications in the compliance and risk management space claiming to reduce compliance and risk managers’ pain. However, an unintuitive GRC platform laden with poor user experience will only add to problems.

Good governance is important for the smooth and effective functioning of the organization. It is a broader concept; and includes oversight and practices to establish an organization’s strategic direction and achieve its purpose and make the best use of available resources.

The mention of the very word audit evokes panic for business owners and compliance officers. You might be surprised to know that auditing can become a painful experience even for the auditors. Tight audit budgets, number of policies to flick through, lack of cooperation from stakeholders can all cause auditors’ obstacles.

In a world where efficiency is king, it comes as no surprise that the practice of workflow automation is as popular as it is. Every process has some form of workflow to go through, and these often include several manual tasks, which increase risk exposure due to their inherently error-prone nature. Workflow automation addresses this lack, working on a company-wide scale. For instance, as per data published by the Annuitas Group, marketing and process automation drew in a 417 % increase in revenue.

Gartner research shows that only the better-prepared enterprise firms developed contingency plans much before situations worsened in the wake of the unprecedented Coronavirus pandemic. With obvious management and operational risks, and additional cybersecurity risks (there was a 273% rise in cyber attacks in Q1 alone), risk management has become essential for enterprises to both survive and thrive.

In a highly competitive environment that thrives on doing anything and everything it takes to succeed, ethics are a key system used to govern business operations. Business ethics, by definition, is a system of beliefs that serves to guide a business organization and the individuals within that organization. These largely revolve around the behaviors, decisions, and values of all involved, and are sometimes incorporated into regulatory norms.

We know that good governance is the culmination of robust internal controls. Risk management specialists and compliance officers always speak about implementing internal controls. What exactly is the definition of internal controls? The federal security law, Section 13(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 provides a clear definition of internal controls interns of accounting and bookkeeping:

Every organization faces certain types of risks in business. Any factor that threatens an organization’s ability to achieve its goal is considered a business risk. The major categories of risks to consider are: strategic risks, compliance risks, financial risks, and operational risks. Another important way to categorize risk is based on the source of the risk and see whether they are internal or external risks.

In the present age, it is increasingly common to find many organizations, including industry titans, take near-fatal blows at the hands of non-compliance. Regulatory bodies around the world keep slapping fines and issuing notices to non-compliant companies. In 2020 alone, the largest non-compliance fine was paid by Wells Fargo, which was to the tune of $3 billion. Considering the financial consequences and likelihood of lasting reputational damage, staying compliant is of utmost priority for corporate boards.

On July 30, 2002, the American Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) act to improve corporate disclosure accountability, transparency, and corporate governance across a public company. The SOX act is intended to protect the shareholders and the general public from business accounting errors and fraudulent activities. The act was passed in a reaction to a series of financial scandals that occurred during 2000-2002 period such as Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom.

In general, compliance refers to all the laws, regulations, and policies that an organization should confirm. When in compliance, the organization, employees, and third-party vendors will behave according to the laws and standards of the regulatory and industry bodies. The essence is that compliance helps organizations to act responsibly and obey regulations related to labor, work safety, finance, operations, and accounting standards.

Compliance is one of the most important challenges for any banking institution operating in today’s market. Non-compliance has consequences, and in 2020 alone, several banks received major fines amounting to $11.39 billion. U.S. banks Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and JP Morgan Chase paid upwards of $7.50 billion toward this total tally, indicating that even the sector leader isn’t immune. Naturally, any form of negligence within this realm of operation can lead to big losses, especially considering how strict legislation has become in the sector.

An organization needs to analyze risks that might occur and find ways to prevent them or reduce their impact. It helps them to act confidently on essential business decisions. Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks and taking steps to reduce risks to an acceptable level. In first, organizations need to identify and prioritize risks. Once they identify the risks, they need to conduct an in-depth assessment of risks. A risk assessment matrix plays a significant role in risk management. It is an essential tool that helps identify and prioritize risks by evaluating the likelihood of a risk occurring and the severity of each risk if it were to happen. It is a method of improving the visibility of an organization’s risks with an assessment based on multiplying the likelihood that a risk will occur by its impact on the organization.

Compliance risks are defined as the risks that result from violations of laws, regulations, codes of conduct, or organizational standards of practice. Compliance risk management is a part of compliance management and it helps identify, assess, and monitor and manage risks that might cause because of non-compliance. Compliance requirements differ from sectors to sectors. The government and regulatory agencies specify rules and regulations based on which companies in a particular sector should do business. For example, banks and financial institutions face the most complicated regulatory environment.

Historically, the banking sector has always been plagued by vulnerabilities and risks. The global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 is an indicator of this fact. Robust risk and compliance management programs and use of technology have helped banks to make good progress on the risk management front. While these control systems and risk management protocols are constantly evolving, operational risk always remains a concern.

Operating as a non-profit organization in an overly competitive and capitalism-first economy means that there is no shortage of obstacles. Non-profits are bound by unending public scrutiny coupled with strict government regulations because of the special financial privileges they enjoy. The tax-exempt status combined with access to public funding is two very good reasons why compliance, on all fronts, can’t be ignored.

Regulatory watchdogs around the world served stiff penalties in 2020, with major financial institutions being asked to own up for their deficiencies and malpractices. Citigroup faced a $400 million fine for risk management shortfalls, JP Morgan was charged $920 million for illicit market activity, Westpac agreed to a record fine of AUD 1.3 billion for anti-money laundering breaches, Goldman Sachs was fined $2.9 billion in connection with the 1MDB scandal, and Wells Fargo saw a huge $3 billion penalty for he fraudulent account fiasco.

Internal audit plays a crucial role in guiding an organization with key insights on corporate governance and suggest improvements on improving compliance, reducing risks, boosting efficiency, and enhancing regular operations.

The year 2021 ushers in a new decade of business change, especially considering the roller-coaster that 2020 was. As organizations move forward, there are various compliance challenges both new and old that compliance officers must come to terms with. Compliance refers to playing according to the rule book, so amid geo-political changes, data privacy concerns, questions on operational resilience, and cybercrime threats, there is new interest in policy and regulatory mandates.

With digitization of services progressing at a relentless pace, businesses are storing large volume of customer data . But with sensitive information being routinely handled by service providers and third-party associates, there is a pressing need for increased information security. Data breaches and cybercrime too are a threat to security. In such a scenario, it is not uncommon for clients to want an independent review of your internal controls for data security prior to partnering with you, especially if you are a SaaS organization.

Cyber threats have grown from being plausible to probable. With organizations becoming more dependent on the internet, social media, and digitization, exposure to cyber risk has also increased manifold. Today, cyber security is among the top priorities of organizations world-wide simply because a cyber-attack can leave your organization in a dilapidated state – untethered from information systems and unable to provide services, owning a handful of compromised data, and staring at massive reputation loss.

Proper policies are integral to the good governance of any organization. Clear and actionable policies, for instance, a cybersecurity policy or an employee safety policy define the boundaries of employee conduct and set the stage for a compliant workplace.

It is an exciting time for us at VComply! We raised $6 Million in Series A funding to expand VComply’s mission to build one of the most intuitive and innovative Governance, Risk, and Compliance platforms in the market. Counterpart Ventures led the round with participation from our current investor Accel Partners.

Risks are inevitable in business. Businesses must reduce their exposure to risks and find ways to mitigate them to remain competitive in business. Identification and acknowledgement of risks that affect the operations, profitability, security, or reputation of the business is the first step. Developing strategies to mitigate these risks is the next and the most essential step! Risk mitigation is an important step in risk management that includes identifying the risk, assessing the risk, and mitigating the risk.

Etymologically, the word resilience has roots in the Latin term resiliere, which means ‘to rebound’. In similar vein, operational resilience describes an organization’ stability to cope with change or misfortune. The ongoing global pandemic, COVID 19 is an extreme form of misfortune, but its impact has been so universal that it has laid bare each organization’s level of operational resilience and sparked renewed interest in the topic.

In this day and age, data is the most important asset that businesses need to protect.
All businesses, big or small, have access to more data than ever. This includes customer data, suppliers’ data, accounting data, and more.

We are thrilled to announce that peer-to-peer business software review platform G2 has again placed VComply as a High Performer in the GRC Platform category in their Winter 2021 announcement. Organizations rely on research firms like G2 to help them analyze and compare business software products, and we are excited about the recognition.

The tick mark has grown to become a symbol of the internal auditor’s raison d’être, but the primary role of internal audit is not, in fact, defined by stationery and workpapers. The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) notes that:

Every business has some inherent risks that it must deal with. As the name suggests, a risk register forms a central repository for all risk-related information for an organization. This includes the type of risks, the impact they may have on an organization, and the risk management plans of the company.

Today, data is everywhere. With ecosystems and infrastructures going digital, access to personal and sensitive data has proliferated across the board, giving rise to the need for adherence to data compliance standards.

Business continuity risk refers to threats that disrupt the functioning of a business. These threats maybe any untoward incidents or disasters that negatively impact an organization.

The purpose of compliance in banking is to detect and prevent any abnormality, criminality, and noncompliance in the bank’s functioning. Banks must operate with integrity and follow regulations, internal policies, and applicable laws.

If the recent proposal for amending the RIA advertising rules becomes a reality, RIAs (Registered Investment Advisers) can start using testimonials and third-party ratings in their advertisements very soon! Just like how lawyers woo their prospects using their clients’ stories of million-dollar settlements in their favor, investment advisers can soon advertise testimonials of how their clients have benefitted through their services.

Good governance is essential for every organization. And government agencies are no exception to this. Government, regulatory agencies, and public sector companies need to comply with a myriad of regulations. Regulatory compliance comprises the rules and regulations connected to business procedures. When regulatory compliance is disregarded, then it can lead to a lawful penalty and damage in reputation. Some rules and regulations that government agencies must comply with include the Dodd-Frank-Act, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS),Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Frameworks such as COBIT and NIST, a compliance standard, inform government bodies how to keep pace with regulations.

Compliance takes work. Surprise audits, producing relevant documentation, coordinating compliance needs across your organization, assigning responsibilities–the list is endless.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has laid down various rules and regulations for registered investment advisors (RIA.s), to prevent fraud and unlawful activities. One of the activities that a RIA must undertake to ensure that they comply with all of SEC’s requirements is an internal risk assessment of their firm.

What is RIA Compliance?

As financial planners and money managers for wealthy individuals and corporations, registered investment advisors or RIAs are required to comply with a set of rules and regulations laid down by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Impact of Covid-19

Covid 19 has upended normal life as we know it. Apart from a gigantic impact on the economy as a whole, the pandemic has also put the future of credit unions at risk. In this article, we’ll be examining the impact of Covid 19 on credit unions, steps to manage the impact, and a quick checklist for credit unions to manage risk in uncertain time

Regulatory Technology or RegTech, as its name suggests, helps organizations achieve compliance. It is being hailed as the “the new FinTech” and rose to prominence in 2015, from total obscurity.

As a healthcare nonprofit, you have the opportunity to impact thousands of lives. However, being a healthcare nonprofit comes with it’s fair share of regulatory and organizational issues that can affect your long term future. In this article, we’ll take a look at the common compliance requirements of healthcare non-profits.

According to Gartner, Vendor management is a “discipline that enables organizations to control costs, drive service excellence and mitigate risks to gain increased value from their vendors throughout the deal lifecycle.” Vendor management should enable organizations to select vendors suited for their business requirements, develop vendor contracts, manage and control vendor performance, and build a sustainable relationship for the long-term efficient business operations.

With new technologies, business expansion and cost focus, the importance of vendor has increased dramatically in the past few years.

GRC helps in each progression of the vendor management lifecycle in an alternate manner. The assistance ranges from better visualization of information and reminders to complete automation.

“Compliance management is the process by which managers, plan, organize, control, and lead activities that ensure compliance with laws regulations & standards.” With the consequences of failing to comply with laws, regulations, and standards having such a high potential cost, compliance is clearly a very big issue for businesses.

Enterprise Risk Management has been gaining relevance in today’s time due to the dynamic nature of regulations and a competitive market environment. Risk management internal to the company is where the majority of companies are focusing on which special emphasis on optimizing internal controls and processes. However, the major party of enterprise risk management is vendor risk. Managing multiple vendors, suppliers and partners are now difficult. With shrinking margins always the concern for corporates, companies can only focus on optimizing its costs in which effective vendor management plays an important role.

The most basic GRC components are provided by most of the GRC Vendors with their platforms that can be configured to fit different GRC solutions. Organizations who are looking to implement GRC technology for a specific need will evaluate the functionality and cost of the solution differently when compared to organizations seeking an integrated GRC solution.

Vendor management involves selecting suitable vendors, sourcing pricing information, collecting quality details, evaluating amongst different vendors and maintaining relationships with them. Vendor management is the process of minimizing the costs in procuring supplies, maintaining effectiveness and quality and avoiding possible vendor risks. A robust vendor management system can help in increasing productivity, add value to operations and drive long term growth of organizations.

“Knowledge constantly makes itself obsolete with the result that today’s advanced knowledge is tomorrow’s ignorance”. One has to be on the learning curve and continuously move up. Business today operates in a highly complex & dynamic world. GRC is a discipline that brings together focus areas across corporate governance, enterprise risk management and corporate compliance. The aim of an effective GRC strategy is to ensure that the right efficiencies are brought in and more effective information sharing & reporting mechanisms are enabled.

While the cloud is an extremely hot topic for organizations worldwide, it is still a pretty broad concept that covers a plethora of services and delivery models. As businesses begin to consider switching to the cloud, be it for application or infrastructure deployment, it is more important than ever to understand the differences between the various cloud services.