Siemens Financial Services is using technology, processes, and a team of former internal auditors to empower management and business process owners to assume greater control of ensuring that the internal controls in their area are effective, executed properly, and, when necessary, adapted to reflect changing business conditions.

Research firm Audit Integrity's accounting and governance risk (AGR) rating, which it calls "an assessment of the quality and transparency of corporate behavior ... based on objective statistical assessments of high-risk behavior, measuring multiple financial and non-financial criteria," is helping Forbes determine the trustworthiness of companies.

If you're new to continuous monitoring, purchase-to-payment is a good area of the organization to begin implementing the technology, according to Harald Will, the president and CEO of ACL Services. Will says, "Whether checking for supplier fraud, internal fraud, or simple errors, p-to-p is a good place to start, and it usually yields results."

Some of the excitement and anxiety surrounding the IFRS conversion stems from the frequent comparison of this pending requirement to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Many experts have offered the SOX-IFRS comparison, however, there are several reasons why it misses the mark, and they’re important to keep in mind.

Emerging evidence suggests that successful companies may be using the current recession to invest in improvements to their risk management capabilities. According to respondents in a new Accenture survey, specific risk management problems include: ineffective integration of risk, return, and capital issues in decision-making (85 percent); lack of alignment between the company's strategies and its risk appetite (85 percent); insufficient enterprise-wide risk culture (82 percent); and inadequate availability of timely risk, finance, and business data (80 percent).

Continuous control monitoring (CCM) technologies can be a cost-effective way to strengthen your internal control environment. Some of the possible benefits include quicker fraud detection, improved SOX compliance, a reduction in audit fees, continuous validation of transactions, and the ability to identify potential areas for cost reductions in your business processes.

Former Intel honcho Craig Barrett offered New York Times columnist Tom Friedman five steps for how the United States could and should emerge from the global economic downturn. Among them, Barrett suggests revamping Sarbanes-Oxley, extending health insurance to all Americans, and lowering corporate taxes.

Integrated business planning (IBP) can increase your organization's financial return and improve its strategic position. Learn more by reading Ventana Research's report "Integrated Business Planning: Redesigning Planning for a More Dynamic Business Environment" in the BPM Resource Center.

The 6th Annual BPM Summit brought together some of the business world's foremost practitioners to explore the transformational role of finance in the enterprise. If you missed the live event, you can still enjoy access to the audio and slide shows from the keynote presentations at our on-demand archive.

How are treasury departments, now in the full glare of the corporate spotlights, marshaling their resources? What strategies and technologies are they mobilizing to keep the lifeblood of their organization flowing? Help us find out by participating in this 10-minute survey. And if you respond by July 24 you’ll be entered into a drawing to win one of two $100 Visa gift cards!