Financial executives in the UK think
disclosure and reporting requirements are among the top three
global regulations with the biggest effect on businesses, according
to a survey by recruitment consultancy Robert Half Financial
Services.
The survey asked 200 financial executives what
global regulations have the greatest impact on their activity and
35% of them pointed to disclosure and reporting requirements as the
most influential.
Some 13% mentioned IFRS compliance while 5%
referred to the mandatory requirements for financial reporting on
the back of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Japan SOX or something
similar as the areas with the most profound impression on their
businesses.
The survey also found that the vast majority
of financial executives believe a harmonised regulatory environment
is needed either globally (88%), across the Eurozone (92%) or
within the European Union (93%).
As a consequence the survey found there has
been a rise in compliance budgets. In order to ensure that their
organisations are compliant with different regulations, more than
half of the executive surveyed (53%) said their expenditure grew in
the last four years.
“We have noticed a significant increase in
demand from organisations to bring the right talent on board to
help them stay ahead of the regulation tsumani and that is driving
up costs,” Robert Half Financial Services global practice director
Neil Owen said.
“Some companies are bringing on permanent
senior professionals; others are turning to seasoned project
regulatory specialists with the requisite knowledge and experience
to oversee key initiatives. It’s not surprising that so many
financial executives believe it is important to harmonise all of
these areas of regulatory compliance, which has become such a huge
element of their day-to-day role and that is driving up costs for
the majority of businesses.”
