tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63234172024-09-04T23:42:44.861+01:00System Viability and Corporate GovernanceA systems engineering view of regulation and compliance, including Sarbanes-Oxley.Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-39353704358415488362007-05-10T12:11:00.000+01:002007-05-10T12:13:43.843+01:00New POSIWID MaterialsPOSIWID lens (edited by Richard Veryard)POSIWID wiki (edited by Amicus Rex)Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1100525637702737542004-11-15T13:04:00.000+00:002004-11-15T13:33:57.703+00:00Shareholder DemocracyAccording to John Plender, the biggest curiosity of US corporate governance is that shareholders' votes on directors' appointments at annual meetings have no force. Shareholders can "withhold" their votes, but even if more than 50 per cent do so the gesture is purely symbolic and the company can continue on the management's chosen path. Plender comments: "This shareholder democracy is about as Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1091285292452115592004-07-31T15:47:00.000+01:002004-07-31T15:48:12.453+01:00Commitment and Self-InterestStandard investment advice is to diversify. Among other things, this means that it's not a good idea to hold significant quantities of shares in your own company, since you are doubly exposed if the company fails. (Think Enron.)
Meanwhile, it is widely supposed that the company's interests are served if the directors and employees have an investment stake in the company as well as an employment Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1090280247445596762004-07-20T00:27:00.000+01:002004-07-20T00:37:27.446+01:00AIIM SurveyEmperor's New Clothes AIIM Survey Shows Organizations Face Internal and External Barriers in Adapting to New Compliance Environment
Press Release
Report in Business Intelligence Pipeline
Download PDF
Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1089413271809151932004-07-09T23:46:00.000+01:002004-07-09T23:55:25.940+01:00ExcusesOnce upon a time, the standard excuse for bureaucratic incompetence was the computer. Sorry sir, we’d love to help you but the computer won’t let us, the computer is down, the computer is so scary you wouldn’t want to upset it now would you?
This excuse isn’t used so much nowadays. This could mean that computer systems have gotten better, or it could simply mean there are now too many computer Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1077845228676901932004-02-27T01:22:00.000+00:002004-02-27T01:29:59.686+00:00Compliance MachineTrevor has drawn our attention to the recent move by Barclays Bank, which uses a product called Raft Radar from Raft International.
Does Raft Radar count as a compliance machine? How does the Raft solution compare with Trevor's?
Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1077844892813721982004-02-27T01:16:00.000+00:002004-05-10T01:33:52.503+01:00404 is the keySEC Press Release http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2004-21.htm
Some internet sources suggest an alternative explanation for the delay - that there is some confusion about the role of auditors. Now where have we heard that before?!?
Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1076286138514196762004-02-09T00:15:00.000+00:002004-02-09T00:25:10.436+00:00Chris JohnsonBill, I assume you're talking about the Chris Johnson who is head of the Glasgow Accident Analysis Group.
There is a lot of impressive-looking Safety Critical material here, but how do you see this could transfer to the Corporate Governance domain?
Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075977718925101772004-02-05T10:32:00.000+00:002004-02-05T10:44:20.123+00:00Compliance Machine (Functional Requirements and Quality Constraints)Trevor has usefully stated some of the general quality constraints for the compliance machine. Easy installation and configuration, low/remote management, non-intrusive, and so on.
What we now need is a clear summary of what the machine will actually do. Trevor proposes to build one and show us. In the meantime, perhaps the rest of us can discuss what we are hoping that Trevor will be able toRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075769839506415192004-02-03T00:50:00.000+00:002004-02-03T00:59:37.840+00:00Compliance MachineI like Trevor's concept of a compliance machine. This could presumably be deployed in a range of management contexts, including second-party audit (monitoring your trading partners) and third-party (new style independent audit).
What are the general requirements for such a compliance machine? Can we articulate a small list of high-level design principles?
Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075768584730779552004-02-03T00:34:00.000+00:002011-10-20T22:02:23.077+01:00Rebalancing Power Proximity and InterestAgency theory says that the agent (e.g, the management) has many opportunities to behave in ways that are against the interests of the principal (e.g the shareholder). This can be explained by an uneven distribution of power (the agent has too much) and proximity (the principal has too little).
Technology potentially provides greater proximity for those with a legitimate interest. It brings Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075722184979089512004-02-02T11:39:00.000+00:002008-11-22T12:08:19.807+00:00CollaborationPrompted by Bill's message, I had a quick read of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance, Draft Revised Text, Jan 2004.
“Shareholders … should be allowed to consult with each other on issues concerning their basic shareholder rights … subject to some possible exceptions regarding inappropriate collusion.”
In other words, collaboration is allowed for some purposes and not for others. In Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075593304956651492004-01-31T23:34:00.000+00:002011-04-16T22:35:38.168+01:00What is Intelligence Amplification?Principia Cybernetica definition
Tribute to W Ross Ashby by George J. Klir
Tribute to W Ross Ashby by Roger ConantRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075419426066471762004-01-29T23:36:00.000+00:002004-01-29T23:41:00.530+00:00BBC and HuttonSequence of events. Secret meeting between an unidentified government scientist and a BBC journalist. Inaccurate reporting by the journalist, apparently quoting the scientist as impugning the integrity and honesty of Government and one named adviser. Major row between Government and BBC. Government scientist identified, publically interrogated, committed suicide.
Independent investigation Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075372676130901322004-01-29T10:09:00.000+00:002004-01-29T10:41:10.670+00:00Competition and Peer PressureWhy do people not strive for excellence? There are sometimes social pressures involved. Think of stroppy gangs of schoolchildren, and the social pressures that sometimes militate against excellence in many schools. Parents fight to get their children into "hothouse" schools, where pupils compete for academic excellence - although the psychological pressures in these schools can also be damagingRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075325730826504422004-01-28T21:34:00.000+00:002004-01-29T21:01:07.653+00:00Blog Structure (Strawman)
Comments anyone?
blogstructure.pptRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075168471492456162004-01-27T01:40:00.000+00:002011-04-16T22:32:12.657+01:00Alerts, Alarms and Algedonic SignalsTrevor writes
The SEC, FSA or whoever can receive automatic alerts if anything odd is going on ...
Some houses have burglar alarms, linked to the local police station. Many people have car alarms loud enough to wake the street. Smart burglars may simply go around creating events to trigger the alarms, thus generating enough apparently false positives to subvert the social system on which theRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075127343261304712004-01-26T14:18:00.000+00:002007-05-07T02:52:05.661+01:00The Old GuardAidan talks about the possible perversion of the system by "old purposes".
One converse of POSIWID - when you find a purpose surviving, look for the system whose purpose it is. Existing power bases will obviously look for ways of preserving power. The Old Guard.
So there may be two or more different systems in play, each attempting to exploit Trevor's mechanisms to different ends. The Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1075076062074303022004-01-25T23:57:00.000+00:002004-01-26T00:16:29.153+00:00New Reporting Models for BusinessBill's latest message talks about the Baldrige award. This US-based award is approximately equivalent to the European Quality Award, administered by the EFQM.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants (England & Wales) has produced a discussion document on various alternative reporting models. It can be downloaded from the following URL (pdf format).
http://www.icaew.co.uk/viewer/index.cfm?AUBRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1074902500378998462004-01-23T23:50:00.000+00:002004-01-24T14:12:59.140+00:00Global accounting problemsExcellent article by John Plender in the Financial Times Thursday 22nd January
http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=040122000023
Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1074636022109325412004-01-20T21:59:00.000+00:002007-05-10T10:36:32.967+01:00Complexity: Devious Management and Investment RiskA common feature of much recent malfeasance is the construction of highly complex corporate structures, apparently beyond the legitimate demands of Requisite Variety.Complexity – whether requisite or otherwise – adds to investment risk. Dodgy management practices may cause a continuous erosion of corporate value, or they may trigger a sudden collapse of value (Enron, Parmalat). Some companies Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1074521648323732632004-01-19T14:07:00.000+00:002011-04-16T22:36:32.660+01:00Independent VisionBill writes
When you tire of this looping exercise of the intellect in foresight v hindsight, you must select one operating platform or the other. Go for "judgment" or go for "evidence." A combination is forbidden, don't bother.
I disagree with this Either/Or. What's wrong with Both/And. One of the most important lessons in systems thinking I got from reading Bateson was the necessity of Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323417.post-1074517041925967912004-01-19T12:56:00.000+00:002004-01-19T12:59:19.543+00:00SEC 404Would someone kindly provide a summary of Section 404. Is there a convenient URL for the whole thing?
Richard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.com