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FIRMA President Eileen Markenstein opened the conference and introduced the keynote speaker, Professor Frank K. Reilly, Ph.D. of the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Reilly is the Audit Committee Chairperson and Director for Morgan Stanley's Trust banks and UBS. Dr. Reilly focused on the ethics of our duties and responsibilities. He discussed the major changes being implemented by today's Audit Committees and emphasized the importance of our roles as Audit, Compliance, and Risk Management professionals. Dr. Reilly's address was followed by an interesting panel discussion of Audit Committee Chairs/Directors including Dennis Casale of Merrill Lynch Trust and C. Thomas Howard, Ph.D. of the University of Denver and Audit Committee Chair of AMG Guaranty. Day one continued with a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board discussion panel with representatives of the PCAOB, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young, followed by a Securities Regulatory Panel, with representatives from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange, the NASD and the CFTC. The day concluded with Jordan Goodman, "America's Money Answer Man" and author of "Everyone's Money Book". On Monday evening, all conference speakers, guests and attendees were invited to a very special event aboard the aircraft carrier "USS Midway". It was a wonderful opportunity for conference attendees to interact with the featured regulatory and industry guest speakers, as well as network with their industry peers. The next two days of the FIRMA conference featured thirty-two separate "breakout sessions" which enabled all conference attendees to tailor the training sessions to their own needs. Each day offered separate tracks of Audit, Compliance and Risk Management disciplines, including Compliance, Investments, Employee Benefits, Technology, Fiduciary Issues and "Audit/How To" classes. Individual training sessions featured Portfolio Styles, Mutual Fund Issues, Fee Sharing issues, Investment reviews, Trust Administration, Basel II, Forensic auditing, Roles/responsibilities of Chief Compliance Officers, DOL and ERISA litigation issues, Legislative updates, Regulatory reporting, IT Regulatory exams, Brokerage Compliance, Retirement plans, GLBA Pushout Rules, Risk Management and Outsourcing, and others. Two new and well-received breakout sessions this year included a regulatory roundtable for securities and banking regulators only, as well as a fiduciary and investment industry roundtable for non-regulators only. On Wednesday, the FIRMA Annual Membership meeting was held. New Board members Gary Pelcak and Warner Price were welcomed, as well as incumbent Deborah Austin who was re-elected to a second term. Day four began with Elizabeth Krentzman, General Counsel of the Investment Company Institute, who provided a comprehensive overview of the factors leading up to the recent intense scrutiny over funds and what the future holds for the Mutual Fund industry. Our conference concluded with the Banking Regulator Panel, moderated by Sally Miller from the American Banker's Association, and including representation from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, The Office of Thrift Supervision, The Federal Reserve Bank, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. |
