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Webinar: Building a Due Diligence System From the Bottom Up

Webinar: Building a Due Diligence System from the Bottom Up Tuesday, June 23, 2015, 12 Noon EST Sign Up Here Companies continue to focus on due diligence systems for managing third parties and supply chain vendors and suppliers. Every due diligence system has to build in mechanisms for identifying and resolving red flags. Beyond these basic requirements, due diligence programs need to include appropriate documentation,...

Crossing a New Bridge: Compliance Officers and Financial Controls

Compliance officers face plenty of challenges. The list of close allies always includes the General Counsel, Internal Audit, Human Resources and Procurement officials. In two recent surveys (here and here), CCOs reported that they do not have a strong working relationship with the CFO and typically do not get involved in the design and implementation of financial controls. That is a real significant problem. Lets start...

Warning: Keeping Compliance Simple

If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself. — Albert Einstein Compliance professionals are in a heady state these days. Their stock is rising; they are gaining influence and authority, and even some additional resources. When given the time, compliance professionals can come up with new and innovative strategies for compliance programs. But I see a danger lurking in the...

Whistleblowers – Tracking Ups and Downs

One of many things about life – just when you think you know something, it turns out you do not. Or another trite way to say the same thing – Life is full of surprises. The evolution in the treatment and legal protection of whistleblowers over the last five years has been remarkable. Just when you think there is one trend, out comes another. What...

A New Era of Sanctions Enforcement

I recently posted an article on International Trade Matters — International businesses beware, the United States has entered a new era of sanctions enforcement –– the article is located here. Check out the site — TradeReady — located here. Thanks.  

Announcing Volkov Law TV — Webinars On-Demand

Watch What You Want and When You Want It!! Check Out Site Here The Volkov Law Group is pleased to announce the launch of Volkov Law TV, a subscription-based service that provides immediate access to 50 webinars on a variety of enforcement and compliance topics.  New webinars will be added each month — at least 20 new webinars each year. Monthly subscription fee for unlimited...

Encouraging Employees to Break the “Rules” to Do the Right Thing

Lauren Connell of The Volkov Law Group joins us again for a posting about corruption and gifts and hospitality.  Her profile is here and she can be reached at [email protected]. Laws and regulations draw black lines in often-gray areas. That is their purpose; they exist to make it easier to tell what is “wrong” and what is “right” (as defined by whoever made the law)....

Washington Politics and Compliance

Consider this posting a warning to everyone in the corporate governance field. I am not known for being a chicken little and screaming “the sky is falling, the sky is falling.” I tend to be a realist when it comes to politics and corporate governance. So with this caveat in mind, here is my warning for the future. With the rise of the Chief Compliance...

Parallel Prosecutions and U.S. Jurisdiction: Looking Beyond the Bribes in the FIFA Scandal

Lauren Connell from The Volkov Law Group joins us again for a posting about the implications of the FIFA Scandal.  Her profile is here and she can be reached at [email protected]. Everyone is talking about the latest corruption scandal, this one with world-wide impact. The scandal engulfed FIFA as seven organization officials were recently arrested in Switzerland. Charges include a range of money laundering, racketeering,...

Wall Street and Ethics

I have to confess that there is a part of me that was skeptical about a new survey released last week finding that banks and other financial institutions have not embraced a culture of integrity.  (Survey Here).   Indeed, the survey found that numerous individuals continue to operate with the idea that illegal or unethical behavior is a necessary part of succeeding in the financial markets....