Employee Screening Must Be Raised to Higher Standards, Acxiom(R) Executive Tells Security Industry Conference

  
    
  
  
    
      While employee background screening has come to be accepted as a 
      necessity in today’s business climate, a 
      simple background check could be inadequate and may leave companies open 
      to increased shrinkage costs and charges of negligent hiring, said 
      Michael Cool, business unit leader for Acxiom® 
      Information Security Services, a unit of Acxiom Corporation (Nasdaq: 
      ACXM).
    
    
      Cool, in a presentation at the 2006 American Society for Industrial 
      Security (ASIS) conference, said thorough background checks and 
      efficient screening that comply with government regulations “can 
      significantly reduce the costs” created by 
      employee theft while protecting organizations from the risk of negligent 
      hiring.
    
    
      “Experts agree that more than 10 percent of 
      the U.S. population has a criminal record, and a significant portion of 
      this pool has violent or sexual misconduct convictions,” 
      Cool said. “Negligent hiring litigation could 
      result in financial penalty as well as damage to an organization’s 
      image and brand.
    
    
      “According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 
      employee theft creates an annual loss of 1 percent to 2 percent in gross 
      sales. About 30 percent of all business failures are directly related to 
      employee theft. In today’s post-9/11 world, 
      security requirements and screening standards must be significantly 
      increased to protect any organization or business from the high costs of 
      workplace violence, employee theft and employee turnover created by 
      fabricated resumes or applications.”
    
    
      Cool, who has been a leader in the industry for nearly 10 years, 
      presented the conference attendees with a comprehensive analysis of the 
      core components of employee background investigations, including 
      government regulations, screening standards related to vendors and 
      overseas employees, the implementation of government-sponsored checks, 
      the effectiveness of real-time versus database search methodologies and 
      the execution of corporate policy to aid in ensuring consistent, 
      legally-insulating screening programs.
    
    
      About Acxiom Corporation
    
    
      Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ: ACXM) integrates data, services and 
      technology to create and deliver customer and information management 
      solutions for many of the largest, most respected companies in the 
      world. The core components of Acxiom's innovative solutions are Customer 
      Data Integration (CDI) technology, data, database services, IT 
      outsourcing, consulting and analytics, and privacy leadership. Founded 
      in 1969, Acxiom is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, with 
      locations throughout the United States and Europe, and in Australia and 
      China. For more information, visit www.acxiom.com.
    
    
      Acxiom is a registered trademark of Acxiom Corporation.
    
  
While employee background screening has come to be accepted as a
necessity in today's business climate, a simple background check could
be inadequate and may leave companies open to increased shrinkage
costs and charges of negligent hiring, said Michael Cool, business
unit leader for Acxiom(R) Information Security Services, a unit of
Acxiom Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM).

   Cool, in a presentation at the 2006 American Society for
Industrial Security (ASIS) conference, said thorough background checks
and efficient screening that comply with government regulations "can
significantly reduce the costs" created by employee theft while
protecting organizations from the risk of negligent hiring.

   "Experts agree that more than 10 percent of the U.S. population
has a criminal record, and a significant portion of this pool has
violent or sexual misconduct convictions," Cool said. "Negligent
hiring litigation could result in financial penalty as well as damage
to an organization's image and brand.

   "According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, employee theft creates
an annual loss of 1 percent to 2 percent in gross sales. About 30
percent of all business failures are directly related to employee
theft. In today's post-9/11 world, security requirements and screening
standards must be significantly increased to protect any organization
or business from the high costs of workplace violence, employee theft
and employee turnover created by fabricated resumes or applications."

   Cool, who has been a leader in the industry for nearly 10 years,
presented the conference attendees with a comprehensive analysis of
the core components of employee background investigations, including
government regulations, screening standards related to vendors and
overseas employees, the implementation of government-sponsored checks,
the effectiveness of real-time versus database search methodologies
and the execution of corporate policy to aid in ensuring consistent,
legally-insulating screening programs.

   About Acxiom Corporation

   Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ: ACXM) integrates data, services and
technology to create and deliver customer and information management
solutions for many of the largest, most respected companies in the
world. The core components of Acxiom's innovative solutions are
Customer Data Integration (CDI) technology, data, database services,
IT outsourcing, consulting and analytics, and privacy leadership.
Founded in 1969, Acxiom is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas,
with locations throughout the United States and Europe, and in
Australia and China. For more information, visit www.acxiom.com.

   Acxiom is a registered trademark of Acxiom Corporation.