As the GRC mandate spread throughout enterprises, many pondered the exact role of the CFO, the General Counsel, the Chief Risk Officer and the Chief Security Officer, not to mention the Chief Compliance Officer, all in relation to the board of directors and the CEO.

The conventional wisdom holds that the offices of the General Counsel and the office of the Chief Compliance Officer should be separate. That's the clear preference of regulators, and it makes a lot of sense. Internally, people get that there's a difference between the two offices, though the distinctions are often unclear and driven by some stereotypical thinking.

Compliance Week offers an interesting metaphor for GRC processes set up to grapple with AML concerns: "Who knew that the art of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance had so much in common with the science of spotting fake paintings?"

Former Forrester Research analyst Michael Rasmussen -- who coined the term GRC for governance, risk management and compliance back in 2002 -- offers a short history of the movement from his perspective.

Ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling, the poster child of corporate fraud and the de facto father of Sarbanes-Oxley, has never given up his fight to get out of jail. That long, expensive effort, which saw him take his case all the way to the Supreme Court, has finally paid off.