Presenting the GEC Index

Eleven.

That’s today’s governance, ethics and compliance (GEC) index rating.

I counted 11 articles in this morning’s The Wall Street Journal that dealt with a governance, ethics and/or compliance issue. I’ll be tracking this index each day and intend to report on its fluctuations on a weekly basis – and I want your help.

Is the measure perfect? Heck, no. Is it helpful? I think it will be very useful. And I want to hear any suggestions or insights on how I might improve it. (For example, I’ve considered tracking GEC mentions in other print publications, such as The Economist and BusinessWeek.) If you have input, please Daschle – er, dash it off to me.

I always track major GRC stories as they unfold. The Satyam scandal, the new administration’s ethics stand (and challenges), and the developing overhaul of U.S. regulatory system most recently have captured my attention.

I’m curious as to how these major GRC stories affect other businesses and their own governance, ethics and compliance activities. (I’m omitting risk management from my indexing – unless it deals with regulatory risk – because other forms of risk are an element of the majority of business articles these days.)

Here are some of the 11 GEC articles in the Feb. 4, 2009, WSJ :
• Former Sen. Tom Daschle and McKinsey executive Nancy Killefer withdraw their nominations (for Health and Human Services secretary and Chief Performance Officer, respectively) due to taxes (as well as Daschle’s brief and rewarding tenure in the private sector).
• Op-Ed headline: “Wall Street Bonuses Are an Outrage”
• Obama nominates new CFTC head, Gary Gensler
• Large companies are conducting more health-plan audits, in part to identify phony beneficiaries
• Wells Fargo (government bailout recipient) calls off employee conference in Las Vegas
• House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank (D-Mass.) – who is communicating frequently with the press these days – expresses support for notion of a “systemic-risk regulator.”
• Fraud investigator blasts SEC’s “financial illiteracy” in Madoff case.