CCI staff share recent surveys, reports and analysis on risk, compliance, governance, infosec and leadership issues. Share details of your survey with us: editor@corporatecomplianceinsights.com.
AI doubles as top employer concern, outpacing immigration and DEI
AI has overtaken immigration and DEI as the top workplace policy concern among US employers, with 84% expecting business impacts from AI-related regulatory changes over the next 12 months — double the share who said the same in 2025, according to new research from Littler, an employment and labor law firm. The firm’s 14th annual employer survey drew on responses from more than 300 US-based C-suite executives, in-house lawyers and HR professionals.
The survey surfaces a governance gap that could leave employers exposed. While 68% now report having a formal AI policy — up from 38% in 2025 — only about half have a formal review or approval process for AI tools (55%) or restrictions on what information employees can enter into them (54%). Nearly four in five respondents (79%) expressed concern about AI-related litigation, with data privacy (49%), discrimination or bias (45%) and compliance with state and local AI laws (43%) as the leading areas of focus.
Other key findings:
- Workplace accommodation litigation concerns jumped to 67% of respondents — up from 50% in 2025 — with 97% reporting at least one challenge in managing leave and accommodation requests and 67% seeing an increase in mental health-related requests over the past year.
- Unlawful DEI practices emerged as the top employer concern regarding False Claims Act enforcement priorities at the DOJ, cited by 35% of all respondents and 53% of those from large organizations.
- Despite declining concern about immigration as a policy issue (49%, down from 75%), 73% of respondents still expect DHS and ICE enforcement activity to affect their workplaces in the coming year.
A third of employees won’t report wrongdoing out of fear
One in three employees would refuse to report misconduct in the workplace out of fear of retaliation, a survey by Outten & Golden found. The survey, which drew from responses from more than 1,000 Americans, also found 22% of respondents reported witnessing unethical or illegal conduct at work.
Most employees don’t know about protections for whistleblowers, the survey found, with more than 40% of respondents saying they were unaware of government whistleblower programs offering confidentiality, legal protection and financial incentives.
Of the respondents, 21% said they felt pressured to compromise their ethical standards at work; that figure rises to more than a quarter (26%) among men.
In another key finding, 13% of employees don’t believe employers communicate honestly and openly. Such skepticism rises with age, with the survey finding older employees more suspicious about how transparent their employers are.
The survey also looked into workers’ feelings about DEI measures. Almost three quarters (73%) believe DEI should be a workplace priority. A disconnect with workers’ opinions and employment practices persists; just under 30% of employees said their employer does not treat DEI as a priority.
Boards getting more involved in security matters
Board directors are increasing their oversight of physical security and executive protection, according to a survey by EY, a business and government consultancy, which found that 87% of corporate decision-makers said that over the past 12 to 18 months, boards have become more hands-on in this area.
Nearly eight in 10 (79%) of companies surveyed increased security budgets compared to 2024, while just 12% of respondents indicated their organizations were prepared to detect a targeted attack against an executive or employee.
Organization leaders are also preparing for cyber attacks, EY said. Nearly 60% of executives and board leaders have pressure-tested AI bypassing physical security controls or creating deepfakes impersonations of executives intended to gain access.
The survey included responses from 250 leaders who influence executive protection, physical security programs, budget and policy.
Nearly half of finance and IT executives made major decisions on bad data in the past year
Nearly half of senior finance and IT executives (47%) say they made a material business decision based on inaccurate, incomplete or outdated financial data in the past 12 months, according to a survey by OneStream, an enterprise finance software company. The survey polled 352 executives across the US, UK and France, including CFOs, CIOs, CTOs and chief data and AI officers at companies with at least $50 million in revenue.
Financial consequences were significant: 72% of executives who experienced bad data said it cost their organization $500,000 or more, and 37% reported damages exceeding $1 million. Downstream effects included delayed reporting and financial close (44%), lost revenue opportunities (41%) and compliance issues (35%).
Risk appears to be compounding as AI use grows. Executives who have made decisions on bad data are four times more likely to use 10 or more AI tools than their peers, suggesting that heavier AI adoption may be amplifying data quality problems. Meanwhile, 95% of those executives report concerns about AI-related risks, including flawed decisions (37%) and financial misreporting (20%).
A generational dimension adds nuance to the findings. Younger executives (ages 25 to 44) use AI more heavily — 82% use three or more AI tools for decision-making, compared to 69% of more experienced peers — but are also more exposed: 51% report making a material decision on faulty data vs. 39% of older leaders. They are also more than four times as likely to report significant financial or compliance impacts as a result (17% vs. 4%).
Most finance leaders say tax compliance mandates are outpacing their ability to manage them
More than half of senior finance executives (58%) describe domestic and global tax compliance mandates as complex for their organizations, and 44% say regulations are changing too quickly to manage effectively, according to a new survey by Sovos, a tax compliance software company. The survey of 300 finance leaders at companies with revenues of $500 million or more — conducted across financial services, manufacturing and retail — found that compliance is increasingly constraining broader business strategy.
Regulatory velocity is a defining concern: 61% of respondents identified the pace of new government mandates as the biggest compliance risk over the next two to three years, ahead of increasing complexity of global operations (56%) and rising costs of compliance technology and staffing (42%). Three-quarters of respondents (75%) say compliance limitations prevent their organizations from being more strategic in business decisions, including geographic expansion and new product launches.
AI is emerging as a potential tool, but anxiety accompanies it. Nearly 40% of respondents plan to evaluate or implement AI-driven tax compliance tools in the next fiscal year. Yet 86% said they are extremely or very concerned about data security with AI-enhanced compliance solutions.