Anthony Pugliese, president and CEO of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, has been selected to succeed IIA President and CEO Richard Chambers. Pugliese, whose experience includes executive roles at the American Institute of CPAs, "is an articulate, well-informed, passionate and results-driven leader with a consistent track record of great successes that inspire and benefit not only his organizations but, importantly, the members they serve," IIA global Chair Jenitha John says.

Improper revenue recognition is the most common form of financial statement fraud, accounting for 43% of schemes, according to an Anti-Fraud Collaboration analysis of enforcement actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reserves manipulation comes in second, while inventory misstatement and loan impairment issues share third place.

IIA President and CEO Richard Chambers dives deep into the World Economic Forum's third edition of "The Future of Jobs Report." He writes that "buried within the report is a treasure trove of information on how the job market is likely to be impacted by COVID-19 and the ongoing Fourth Industrial Revolution, the digital revolution," and he notes that there "is also an ominous forecast for those of us in the audit profession."

US companies should expect more disclosure mandates regarding environmental, social and governance matters, write Louis Rambo and Frank Zarb of law firm Proskauer Rose. Rambo and Zarb have analyzed statements made by Janet Yellen, whom President-elect Joe Biden will nominate as Treasury secretary, and likely priorities for the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Biden administration.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was a strong advocate for protecting consumer data as California's attorney general, but "there is no crystal ball to predict" how Congress and the White House might approach national privacy legislation, write Heather McArn, Judith Selby and Joanna Storey of law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson. In this roundup, they examine privacy laws around the world and the state of play for 2021.

This year will highlight that "data privacy and governance cannot be achieved with separate standalone tools" and instead must be part of an analytics infrastructure, Prangya Pandab writes. Another prediction: more convergence among products in the data-management industry.

Brian Bravo, former head of purchasing for Broward Health, faces up to 60 years in prison and a $1.25 million fine if convicted of bribery. Prosecutors say Bravo steered hospital district contracts in exchange for vacations to Cancun and the Bahamas, World Cup tickets and $600,000 in kickbacks.

The SolarWinds breach has wide-ranging implications for how companies protect themselves and their supply chains, as well as for how the government approaches cybersecurity. Cybersecurity reflects culture, so employees must be properly trained, understand priorities and have as few distractions as possible, writes Lakshmi Hanspal of Box, while Rob Knake of the Council on Foreign Relations writes that the government's response to cybersecurity threats requires better execution of strategies.

CrowdStrike researchers have discovered a third malware tool called Sunspot that was used to breach SolarWinds' internal network in September 2019. Attackers reportedly dropped Sunspot in the build environment of SolarWinds' Orion software, where it injected a Sunburst backdoor by replacing the company's source code files without being detected by internal alarms.

Mispronouncing someone's name, especially repeatedly, can be disrespectful and leave that person feeling "less valued," says University of Michigan assistant psychology professor Myles Durkee. In the workplace, ask people what name they go by, and keep a reminder of how they pronounce it if you need to, Durkee says.

The 2020 American Corporate Governance Index: Making Strides Amid Crisis remains the only index that measures performance in key governance areas among publicly held US companies. The index is based on the Guiding Principles of Corporate Governance, which were developed in partnership between The IIA and the University of Tennessee's Neel Corporate Governance Center. Download a copy today.

With the release of the 2020 American Corporate Governance Index, gain perspectives on the state of corporate governance and the opportunity for internal auditors to provide assurance on governance to their stakeholders. IIA members, register now for the Jan. 19 webinar.