ACA's Top 10 Blog Posts of 2018

We launched the ACA Spotlight Blog in November 2017 to provide our clients and friends with insights and guidance on industry topics that only ACA's deeply experienced team can provide. Since then, we've published over 125 posts — almost 100 in 2018 alone! — on a wide range of topics including regulatory compliance, performance, technology, cybersecurity, and financial crime. Below are our top 10 most read blogs from 2018. 

1. GIPS 2020^® Exposure Draft Released Public Comment
   ACA Performance Services explores the proposed changes to the 2020 GIPS standards, including the new layout, composites vs. pooled funds, GIPS Advertising Guidelines, and more.
    
2. Case Study: ACA’s Vendor Management Outsourcing Service Global Private Equity Firm
   This case study explains how ACA's vendor management outsourcing service (VMOS) helped a global private equity fund manager reduce their vendor management costs by over 67%.
    
3. FCA Warns Firms Over Market Abuse Surveillance
   This blog provides guidance on the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) September 2018 issue of Market Watch, which includes the FCA's observations relating to market abuse surveillance.  
    
4. Financial Institutions May Need to Reconsider Their Approach to Electronic Communication Surveillance 
   Regulators in both the U.S. and U.K. continue to focus on electronic communication oversight programs as a form of detecting and preventing financial crime. This blog shares insight as to why the SEC, FINRA, and FCA have increased their focus in this area.
    
5. Preventing Breaches: Four Ways Test Your Company’s Security Controls
   ACA Aponix shares four tactics to prevent breaches and test the effectiveness of security controls.
    
6. Cyber Awareness Month 2018: Online Safety for Children
   Our National Cyber Awareness Month theme for 2018 was Online Safety for Children. ACA’s team of cybersecurity professionals developed multiple resources you can download that contain cyber safety best practices to use at home, school, and wherever children can get online.
    
7. Behind on Your Annual Testing Mandate? How ACA Can Help
   This blog explains how to satisfy the Compliance Program Rule and the advantages of a continuous testing approach.
    
8. Year-End Compliance Checklist for CCOs
   ACA's team of compliance professionals developed a checklist to help guide you through the key areas to consider as you head into 2019.
    
9. Increased Demand OCIOs Claiming GIPS Compliance
   Outsourced Chief Investment Officers (OCIO) face increased market pressure to adhere to the GIPS standards for entities that require a certain level of due diligence and comfort with the performance they are evaluating.
    
10. OCC AML Priority to Target Regulatory Change
    The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has indicated that it will be focusing on the effectiveness of anti-money laundering (AML) systems and controls after including the topic on its list of FY 2019 annual priorities. This blog will explain what this means for OCC-regulated banks.

We look forward to another year of sharing valuable insights and helpful takeaways with our clients and friends in 2019! If you have any topics you'd like to see explored on the ACA Spotlight Blog next year, please email Erin Conrad. Thank you for reading!

About the Author

Erin Conrad is a Marketing Manager at ACA. Erin oversees ACA’s website and content strategy in addition to marketing initiatives for ACA Technology and ACA Aponix. Prior to ACA, Erin was Manager of Technical Publications at Imprivata, a healthcare IT solutions company based in Lexington, Massachusetts. At Imprivata, she developed and deployed end-user documentation for Imprivata’s products. Previously, Erin managed the Technical Communications Group at Eze Software in Boston. Erin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a certificate in Professional Writing and Technical Communication from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst