Category: General

19 Nov, 2017

Making the Case for Requiring Beneficial Ownership Information

In this era of aggressive enforcement, global companies have to integrate beneficial ownership requirements when conducting due diligence of business associates and when engaging customers. For most businesses, beneficial ownership is critical in two main legal contexts: sanctions compliance and FCPA risk. Both of these areas present significant risks to any US company conducting business overseas, regardless of what industry. Of course financial institutions face...

General

16 Nov, 2017

Putting Ethics Back Into Compliance (Part IV of IV)

My final posting on this week’s ethics series is a call to action for all compliance professionals. Every compliance officer should insist on and embrace a title – “Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer.” Some larger organizations have a separate ethics officer, and I am not suggesting to merge the positions. Every company should have a chief ethics officer, either as a separate function or as...

General

15 Nov, 2017

Six Specific Areas to Embed and Promote Business Ethics (Part III of IV)

The challenge for corporations is to build practical approaches to business ethics and its specific corporate values. Business ethics as a field is all well and good but we need to start sharing specific and practical strategies to infuse our day-to-day conduct and advance our corporate performance. In doing so, I am not so limited nor naïve to suggest that the only measure is corporate...

General

14 Nov, 2017

Trust and Integrity – Bedrock of Corporate Sustainability (Part II of IV)

Here is another profound grasp of the obvious – all companies need to make a profit. However, as companies begin to focus on long-term performance rather than short-term quarterly objectives, innovative leaders believe that profitability can be achieved without sacrificing social, environmental and moral considerations. To the contrary, the long-term success of a business may only thrive when it reflects the needs of its stakeholders...

General

13 Nov, 2017

Business Ethics, Values and Personal Ethics (Part I of IV)

This week I am examining in a four-part series the issue of business ethics in an attempt to provide practical approaches to business ethics to help build and promote a company’s culture. As more attention is paid to the importance of an ethical culture, I wanted to first offer some general observations. The field of business ethics is thick with definitions, moral arguments and theoretical...

General

12 Nov, 2017

The FCPA Week That Was — Seven Individuals Charged for FCPA Violations

To all the “nattering nabobs of negativity” concerning FCPA enforcement, the US Justice Department responded with a resounding message – not only is FCPA enforcement here to stay, but individual violators are on DOJ’s radar screen. In an FCPA enforcement week like no other, the Justice Department unveiled a total of seven charging documents (indictments or informations) for FCPA violations, five arising from the Rolls...

General

9 Nov, 2017

MyCompliance Office Webinar: Taking a Fresh Look at Gifts, Entertainment, & Hospitality Programs

Gifts, meals, entertainment, travel, and hospitality expenses (GMETH) are high-risk for bribery but have not received the same attention lately as third party risk management. The advancing capabilities of software solutions in this area make now the time to take a fresh look at how to leverage technology to strengthen your program. Join me and MyComplianceOffice for a free webinar to review: Best Practices to...

General

8 Nov, 2017

COSO Framework: Breaking Down the Silos and Bringing Everyone Together (Part II of II)

The COSO framework contains important principles for structuring a global organization and its internal controls, including compliance policies and procedures. Compliance officers have to learn and use the COSO framework when communicating and convincing the CFO to embrace a new world with both compliance and financial controls within an effective governance framework. Global companies are recognizing (sometimes slowly) that management silos in a company prevent...

General

7 Nov, 2017

COSO Framework: Fraud, Corruption and Compliance (Part I of II)

Global companies need to actively work to prevent fraud and corruption. Fraud and corruption go hand-in-hand. To commit bribery, bad actors have to gain access to money for unauthorized (illegal) purposes. A failure to prevent fraud and corruption can have significant legal, financial and reputational consequences. Luckily, companies are devoting additional resources to assess fraud and bribery risks with specific focus on internal financial and...

General

6 Nov, 2017

CCOs and CFOs: Bringing Everyone Together

Chief compliance officers are politicians and have to possess great interpersonal skills. They have to “get along” and persuade key constituencies — most especially their business partners – to commit and devote time and resources to ethics and compliance. In order to operationalize their programs, CCOs have to build relationships with important partners – human resources, legal, internal audit, procurement, and finance. Up to this...