Think about this – publicly traded companies are subject to:
- Sarbanes-Oxley
- External audits, typically by the largest CPA firms in the world
- Internal audits, performed by a robust team deeply knowledgeable about the organization
- Advanced accounting systems, and
- More.
Additionally, banks are subject to:
- Regulation by federal and state governments
- Extensive, specific laws to protect investors and customers, and
- More.
How do your financial systems compare? For most organizations the honest answer will be “they don’t.” Yet, most business leaders continue to believe that they are largely immune from unethical behavior in the workplace. With that perspective, consider this brief article published Saturday in the Dayton Daily News.
The lesson here is not that U.S. Bank did a bad job. In fact, their controls and procedures are far superior to most organizations. The lesson is: if problems can happen there, they can happen anywhere. What are you doing to protect your clients, assets, employees and reputation?