Law and Policy - Case Study Example

While analyzing the current information management practices, it seems that government laws as well as organizational policies play a vital role in improving the performance of information systems. A business organization must necessarily adhere to the policies issued by federal, state, and local government while managing its information and information systems. Considering the importance of accurate and timely information, federal and state governments have framed a set of information management policies so as to achieve a sustainable financial sector growth.

Confidentiality of Information The US Federal government gives particular emphasis to the confidentiality of customer information. According to Federal policies (as cited in Bureau of Consumer Protection, n.d.), financial institutions have the responsibility to ensure the secure keeping of customer information including credit card numbers, income statements, and social security numbers. As per this policy, financial institutions are required to designate enough employees to coordinate their information security program.

In addition, those organizations should also implement a safeguards program and regularly monitor it to ensure its operational efficiency. It is the responsibility of financial institutions to identify risks to the program times and to make adequate modifications. (Bureau of Consumer Protection). These strict policies regarding the confidentiality of customer information would certainly compel financial institutions to take sincere efforts to comply with the legal standards. Undoubtedly, such a legal environment can be helpful for those firms to improve their performance in keeping customer information securely.

Similarly organizational policies also specifically try to promote the privacy of customer information as this practice is important to improve brand reputation and business growth. Integrity of Information The last decade witnessed a series of bank failures in the United States which intensified the impacts of the recent global recession. In response to this banking collapse, the Federal government strictened corporate governance policies for financial institution. As part of this policy change, the government pays particular attention to the integrity of information.

As noted in the GAO financial report (1998), so as to accomplish this goal, the government tries to enhance the reliability and authenticity of audit programs and thereby assist stakeholders to obtain a true and fair view of the state of affairs of financial institutions at the end of the fiscal year (p.2). The government believes that such practice would assist investors to make sound investment decisions, which in turn would promote sustainable growth of the financial sector. These modified corporate governance policies issued by the Federal government will certainly require financial institutions to assess the integrity of various information they get during the course of business.

Under this circumstance, financial institutions can ensure compliance with governmental laws by avoiding practices like inflation and deflation of profits. Availability of Information Finally, ensuring the availability of information can also be influenced by the legal environment. Federal investigations have identified that accounting fraud and