Tag Archives: corporate governance

A Ray of Hope on Health Care from an Unlikely Source

12 Monday May 2014

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Health care professionals in Egypt conduct a stakeholder analysis to help spell out governance principles for Egyptian hospitals.

A hip replacement in the United States, paid for out-of-pocket (i.e., without health insurance), would cost anywhere from $11,000 to $125,000, depending on what hospital you go to, according to a 2013 survey of 100 hospitals featured on National Public Radio.  And that was among the hospitals that, when asked, could actually produce a quote – 40 of the 100 hospitals surveyed couldn’t quote a price at all.

Those fortunate enough to have insurance don’t need to worry about price-shopping.  When I go to my primary care physician, I pay a $20 co-pay.  (Under our previous insurance, provided by my wife’s former employer, it was $10.  Why the difference?  Who knows?)  I have no idea how much my insurance company pays the doctor.  I suppose I could find out, but… honestly?  There’s really no compelling reason for me to do so.   Read More...

Current Trends in the Relationship Between Boards and Compliance Officers

14 Friday Feb 2014

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boardrelationshipBy Hyeji Kim

Any corporate compliance program needs a strong relationship between the board of directors and the compliance and ethics officer in order to be effective. In 2010, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) conducted a study which showed that the relationship between the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers (CECOs) and boards of directors was much weaker than it should be. In 2013, SCCE conducted the study again to see if there were any changes.

The recently published 2013 study, based on over 600 responses from compliance and ethic professionals in the SCCE and HCCA database, seems to be on a much brighter note with generally positive findings.

Key Findings

  • 62 percent of the surveyed CECOs have on average four or more regularly scheduled meetings with the board per year. Interestingly, male CECOs tend to meet with the board more often.
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Survey Asks Corporate Leaders about Anti-Corruption Efforts

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

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Surveys attempting to measure illegal or frowned-upon behavior are notoriously difficult to execute in a useful way. This is especially true when it comes to surveys asking global corporate leaders how well they are following anti-corruption laws.

On the one hand, such surveys can end up underestimating the problem when companies are reluctant to acknowledge behavior that can result in multimillion dollar fines. On the other hand, surveys can overestimate corruption issues or give a false sense of a growing problem simply because awareness is growing as more and more executive and managers undergo mandatory training on all the different ways to run afoul of U.S., UK and Canadian anti-corruption laws.

Such surveys become even more problematic when the organization conducting the survey stands to benefit from results that highlight whatever problem the organization is in the business of solving.

So, with all those caveats out of the way, it is worth noting that Ernst & Young’s 2013 Europe, Middle East, India and Africa Fraud Survey is quite useful, both for its scope and for its findings.  Read More...

Business Shows Clear Commitment to Fighting Corruption in Thailand

01 Friday Feb 2013

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Participants at the January IOD training included senior officers from some of the largest local and multinational companies in Thailand.

In late January, more than 30 senior officers from 17 major Thai and multinational corporations attended an intensive anti-corruption training program led by the Thai Institute of Directors (IOD). This pilot two-day training course is the latest groundbreaking step in the Collective Action against Corruption campaign, now in its third year, being led by CIPE and IOD.

With technical and financial assistance from CIPE, IOD has assembled a still-expanding coalition of companies and business associations committed to fighting corruption in Thailand. To join this coalition, a company signs IOD’s Collective Action against Corruption Declaration which lays out tangible and specific steps that a company must take to proactively reduce corruption-related risks on the part of its employees, managers, and vendors. But signing this document is no mere photo-op, because to remain a member of this coalition, a company must submit to an external evaluation to verify whether or not it is actually doing what it has promised to do.  Read More...