At KPMG Ethics & Compliance Issues
Are in Balance
On
Wednesday, October 4, the Robert
H. Smith School of Business
welcomed Teresa Iannaconi, a
partner at KPMG, to its Business
Ethics Lecture Series. Iannaconi,
MBA , spoke to a room filled
with students on the topic of
The Pursuit of a Model Ethics
and Compliance Program for a
Registered Public Accounting
Firm.
Iannaconi was named the chair of
KPMG's newly created Ethics and
Compliance Committee (ECC) in
2003. She says she was thrilled
to lead this precedent-setting
initiative, and to this day
knows of no other similar
committee. At KPMG Iannaconi
basically started from scratch
and built up the Ethics and
Compliance Committee to what it
is now - a critical part of the
KPMG business model reporting
directly to the Board of
Directors. Over the past few
years, the ECC has initiated
some impressive company-wide
enhancements to the ethics and
compliance program at KPMG:
created a Code of Conduct that
goes beyond legal requirements,
instituted an Ethics and
Compliance Hotline, appointed an
ombudsman, required customized
training and signed affidavits
for code and training, created a
centralized reporting and
monitoring system, and defined
an organizational structure.
Why
create an ethics and compliance
program in the first place?
Iannaconi says, "I really do
believe the world's a better
place if we are all ethical."
Ethics and compliance programs
can enhance reputation, service
quality and recruitment
opportunity, and create a more
positive and productive working
environment, not to mention
garner higher employee
satisfaction and even create a
better community.
There is an overlap of ethics,
compliance and enterprise risk
management, says Iannaconi.
Ethics is an elevated concept of
model behavior. Compliance is
not just voluntary actions, but
legal requirements. And risk
involves financial or
reputational harm and frequently
involves ethics and/or
compliance, explains Iannaconi.
"Survival requires legal
compliance. Growth requires
enterprise risk management.
Excellence requires professional
and personal ethics," she says.
The single most important asset
of an accounting firm is the
people, says Iannaconi.
Previously, KPMG handled most
human resources-related issues
on an office-by-office basis in
its approximately 70 locations
throughout the United States.
Now the ECC has standardized
everything to ensure issues are
dealt with uniformly across the
board. The entire ECC process is
a hallmark demonstrating great
organizational behavior, says
Iannaconi.
 About
Teresa Iannaconi
Iannaconi, was elected to the
KPMG Board of Directors in 2003
and most recently served as the
Group Head of the Practice
Advisory/SEC Group in KPMGs
Department of Professional
Practice. Prior to joining KPMG
in 1995, Iannaconi worked for
the Securities and Exchange
Commission for 19 years,
including six years as the
associate director for
Accounting Operations and as the
deputy chief accountant in the
Division of Corporation Finance.
From 1975 until 1980 Iannaconi
was a graduate student and
served on the faculty of the
University of Maryland.
Iannaconi is a member of the
AICPA, the American Accounting
Association (AAA), and the
Society of Corporate Secretaries
and Governance Professionals
(Society). She currently serves
on the PCAOB subcommittee of the
Securities Law Committee of the
Society, the editorial and
advisory board of Accounting
Horizons, the Financial
Accounting and Reporting section
of the AAA, the advisory board
of the SEC Institute, the
advisory board of the SEC
Historical Society, the Board of
Directors of Campus Compact, and
the Board of Visitors of the
University of Maryland. She also
is on the Board of Trustees of
the KPMG Foundation. She
previously served as a member of
the AICPAs SEC Regulations
Committee, the FASBs Emerging
Issues Task Force, and the
American Accounting Associations
Financial Accounting Standards
Committee. Iannaconi received a
B.S. degree in accounting from
Georgetown University and an MBA
from the University of Maryland. |
» Read about
the fall 2006 ethics lecture series.
> Read about Smith's spring 2006 ethics
lecture series.
> Read about Smith's fall 2005 ethics
lecture series.
> Read about Smith's spring 2005 ethics
lecture series.
▓ Alissa Arford-Leyl, Office of
Marketing Communications
