How will the conversion to/adoption of IFRS in the United States affect private companies? If the widespread use of GAAP by U.S. private companies is any indication, IFRS consultants and implementers will find eager clients among private companies as well as public companies. However, there are some unique IFRS issues facing private companies.

Companies that fail to follow all of the proper steps when laying off foreign nationals who hold an H-1B work visa could end up paying wages and benefits to the visa holder until the Department of Labor resolves the issue.

The financial transaction monitoring company Oversight Systems has recognized unstealthy criminals with its Fraudies awards. Winners made "the most audacious attempts to appropriate company resources for personal gain.” The Fraudies Selection Committee doesn't focus on the size of the transaction but "chooses its winners based on the creativity, humor, and farcical nature of their alleged career-limiting schemes."

Now that internal auditors have (hopefully) handed off ongoing Sarbanes-Oxley compliance to business process owners and made some headway on enterprise risk management (ERM) programs, they could be the "eyes and ears of the audit committee" and a "business adviser" on IFRS implementation, according to a new Ernst & Young paper. Ernst offers criteria that companies can use to assess the degree to which internal audit is prepared to take on an IFRS oversight role.

The financial systems renovation has already begun, and there are surely more changes to come. OpenPages Vice President Gordon Burnes has nine recommendations for organizations that are preparing for pending regulatory changes.

The effectiveness of GRC depends on who is responsible for it. Are the people running your GRC efforts more like Countrywide's former CFO Eric Sieracki, who painted a rosy picture of the company even in the middle of the subprime crisis, or the company's former Chief Risk Officer John McMurray, who warned execs numerous times about the unhealthy risks in the company's subprime lending practices?

Employees' financial problems could become a risk management concern for companies, according to a new report.

A Chinese audience at Beijing University recently laughed at U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's assurance that their dollar investments were safe. "The Chinese should be wary of such hubris," warns Washington Post columnist David Smick. "While America's public finances are troubling, to say the least, Beijing and the rest of the world should examine the future for economies, including China's, that have become overwhelmingly dependent on exports. Their future looks as problematic as the future of the debt-ridden United States."

Looking to gain a competitive advantage, improve bond ratings, and lower the cost of audits? BDO consulting partner Glenn Pomerantz and managing director Sydney Rose Leo suggest implementing a formal enterprise risk management (ERM) program.

Eric Krell interviews Sanjay Poonen -- senior vice president and general manager, SAP BusinessObjects performance optimization applications -- on the integration of risk management and performance management.

Decision-making is a hot topic, and in business, decision-making centers on how organizations and the individuals who manage them balance risk and opportunity. To strike a better balance, they need processes and systems to help. That's where the integration of risk management and performance management comes in.

A new report from commercial insurance company FM Global on how business owners can reduce greenhouse gases by using certain risk management systems demonstrates the link between risk management and corporate sustainability.

Integrated business planning (IBP) can help organizations sell more, better allocate their resources, and speed up their reaction time to changing market conditions. Learn more by reading Ventana Research's "Integrated Business Planning: Addressing Today's Challenges and Opportunity" in the BPM Resource Center.

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