Once again, our hat goes off to Tracy Coenen for her coverage over at The Fraud Files Blog. Way back in November of 2008, Brightfly Researcher Mark Adams wrote a short piece on IFRS as the new Cash Cow for the Big 4. This was a follow-on piece to his insights into the Grant Thornton survey which indicated broad disapproval among CFO’s with IFRS and a reluctance to change. You see, even back then we were debating internally as to why the big push for IFRS seemed to get so much press, despite widespread community support. Mark indicated how the push to this new standard would prop up revenues that were were slipping for SOX work as those efforts matured in Big 4 clients. We all nodded and thought it was plausible and a highly likely Astroturf campaign, then moved on.

Thankfully, via The Fraud Files Blog, Tracy has pointed us to a recent piece by Professor David Albrecht on how the push to IFRS is being driven by the Big 4 (and the lesser firms as well). His hypothesis is that since the only organizations embracing the move seem to be the large audit firms, and that they stand in  the best position to profit from the move, that it their greed that propels this change. He goes on to quote Arthur R. Wyatt’s analysis of Arthur Andersen’s implosion as one fueled by greed, and as a canary in the coal mine perhaps, for the future for this industry. A great read, and one that lays many of pieces out in the open for deeper inspection.

Thanks Tracy! Keep up the good work.

Please join Brightfly’s Managing Director of Research, Brandon Dunlap, as he moderates “Implementing a DLP Solution”, a half-day e-Symposium from ISC2′s Security Leadership Seminar Series. This highly interactive and vendor neutral event is being held on January 19th, 2010 and kicks off at 10:30am PST / 1:30pm EST with opening remarks by Dunlap who is then followed by an all-star line up of experts in this space.

Jared Thorkelson, Principal at DLP Experts and Guest Researcher here at Brightfly, leads off the day with “The Truth About DLP” where he exposes some of DLP’s gaps and how, through a multi-layered approach, you ensure the mitigation of residual data loss risks that these technologies don’t cover.

Following the Q&A with Jared, we’ll have Derek Brink, VP and Research Fellow at the Aberdeen Group, with “How Best-in-Class Companies Manage Data to Serve and Protect”. In this presentation, Derek will showcase leading data protection strategies he has gleaned from research in over 160 enterprises. Be sure to make liberal use of the Q&A session to get Derek’s insights about organization’s like your own.

Up after Derek we have Kim Getgen, Principal at Trust Catalyst (a Brightfly Research Partner). Kim’s extensive experience in DLP has led her down a research path that I’m sure you will find very interesting. In her session, “DLP and PCI Compliance”, she will dive into the role that data loss prevention plays in a larger PCI DSS compliance strategy. Stick around to the end of her presentation to not only question her about her research, but to get access to her free Data Breach Prep Kit.

Closing out the day is John Moynihan, President and Managing director of Minuteman Governance. Broadening the scope of Kim’s earlier session, John opens up the discussion around recently enacted state and federal legislation that has an immediate impact on the data protection activities you need to need to understand. You’ll find his practical advice well worth the time invested in attending.

To register your attendance to this enlightening and informative event, just click the button below.