Corporate Governanceintegrum Pty Limited has developed a software product called integrum that is specifically designed to help organisations manage their Corporate Governance & Risk Management requirements.
"Corporate governance is concerned with holding the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals. The governance framework is there to encourage the efficient use of resources and equally to require accountability for the stewardship of those resources. The aim is to align as nearly as possible the interests of individuals, corporations and society."
Sir Adrian Cadbury, 1999, Corporate Governance:
A Framework for Implementation, World Bank Report |
The corporate scandals and disasters of the early 1990's in the UK, including the Maxwell Group raid on the pension fund of the Mirror Group of newspapers, the collapse of BCCI and the Polly Peck scandal, and the massive failures of Enron in the US, as well as the failures of Bond Corporation, Onetel and HIH in Australia have forced Governments throughout the world to usher through significant changes to the laws governing executive accountability and reporting requirements. These changes have also redefined the responsibilities of external auditors and highlighted the deficiencies of generally accepted accounting standards to uphold heightened investor and the communities expectations about corporate behaviour. In fact, there are laws currently being drafted that will hold a company (or specifically its directors and officers) responsible for the crime of "corporate murder".
In the UK, this increased focus on corporate governance has emerged through the codes developed by the Turnbull Committee and enforced by the new Financial Services Authority, in the US through the sweeping reforms of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which is enforced by the SEC, a company director is now subject to a $25 million dollar fine and up to 10 years prison for breaches of the Act, and in Australia, changes to the Financial Services Act and to the Companies Act are now being aggressively enforced by ASIC.
Changes to Corporate Governance laws also includes a responsibility to implement appropriate controls for financial, operational and compliance controls and risk management. This emphasis on the latter has been eloquently stated by Cynthia Glassman a Commissioner of the SEC.
"I am keenly aware that corporate governance involves a strong dose of risk management, especially in today's environment. Looked at in this light, I respectfully suggest that if it is the responsibility of management and the board to maximise long-term shareholder value, companies that cut corners on compliance fail in this regard by jeopardising the long-term profitability - and ultimately viability- of the company."
Cynthia Glassman
Commissioner, SEC
(in a speech to the American Society of Corporate Secretaries, September 27, 2002. |
A key intent of the changes to Corporate Governance laws was to ensure that companies make a continuous assessment of risks and subsequent adjustment of their controls system. Companies must now redesign management reporting processes and business planning processes to incorporate these risk assessment activities. Also many companies have not succeeded in integrating their risk assessment into the company's regular management cycle and are having difficulty incorporating risk management into their corporate culture and operational activities, particularly down at the middle management and supervisory levels.
emsoft has developed a Corporate Compliance & Risk Management System called integrum. integrum incorporates the functionality of risk assessment using questionnaires and a flexible risk matrix that conforms to the AS/NZS 4360:1999 Risk management Standards, automatically builds your prioritised risk register and allows you to integrate risk management into your corporate planning process through programs, projects and activities, as well as providing a range of compliance management features such as audit management and scheduling, policy and procedure life cycle management, corrective actions, escalations and automatic reminders, periodic check-list reminders, training management, supplier management, periodic reporting, management reviews and a host of other features that ensure that your Corporate Compliance & Risk management system can incorporate both executive management and operational requirements.
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