Sometimes the compliance industry makes things harder than they really need to be. As a result, Chief Compliance Officers are left to modify and transform practices and tools to fit the real world. I understand why CCOs do that – they are under extraordinary pressure and need to accomplish tasks without adequate resources. In my practice, I always apply this philosophy. I am not out...
If you enjoy Spencer Tracy and Kate Hepburn movies like I do, you know the value of a great partnership. Tracy and Hepburn movies are classics, and their chemistry was powerful (on the screen and off). Like their relationship, the Chief Compliance Officer and the Internal Auditor can be a powerful force in corporate governance. There are so many areas where a CCO and IA...
FCPA settlements carry with them a basket of compliance and enforcement lessons. The recent Goodyear settlement with the SEC for $16 million carries some important compliance and strategic reminders for ethics and compliance practitioners. Here are the major lessons: The Value of Hotlines: The Goodyear investigation began with a hotline call. All too often, everyone rolls their eyes when they think about their hotline. Nearly...
The compliance field is in the early stages of a paradigm shift on managing due diligence—moving from a data drought to a data flood. Today’s compliance manager has to figure out how to proactively and continuously manage, organize and pinpoint risk in an overwhelming amount of data coming from many sources inside and outside of their organization. Join NAVEX Global and me on March 10th...
I am starting to repeat myself – it is a sign of old age (ask my wife), or maybe I have a point to make. I have written several times about financial institutions and the need to embrace a culture of ethics and compliance. This is not so controversial. It is plainly obvious. All you have to do is look at the list of recent...
You can talk all you want about the importance of “tone-at-the-top.” People use that term all the time and everyone nods their heads in agreement. But what is the “top”? Is it the CEO? Is it the senior executives? Is it the corporate board? Is it the Audit/Compliance Committee? In my mind, there is only one mountain top in a company. The buck ends at...
Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 12 Noon EST Top 10 Internal Investigations Problems Sign Up Here Companies face significant risks when conducting an internal investigation involving serious allegations of misconduct. An internal investigator must know how to identify and resolve significant issues that may come up during the investigation. The investigator must be aware of the surrounding risks and conduct an internal investigation which is credible...
People are good at complaining. People often say to themselves, “Things are not going my way,” and they love to feel sorry for themselves. People who are professional victims are toxic. Why? Professional victims gain a sense of existence from their own suffering, rather than taking responsibility for their actions. What does this have to do with ethics and compliance? Believe it or not,...
If you want to inflame a discussion between general counsels and chief compliance officers, just try to develop a consensus on the importance of attorney-client privilege. A GC and a CCO will mouth the right words – of course, there are situations where we need to preserve the attorney-client privilege. We all agree on that. As always, the devil is in the details. Let’s start...
Evan Lee, an Associate at The Volkov Law Group, joins us for a post on the new anti-human trafficking rules. Evan can be reached at elee@volkovlaw.com. His bio is here. Consistent with the US Government’s zero tolerance policy concerning human trafficking, a cadre of government agencies recently published a final rule amending the current Federal Acquisition Regulations provisions on human trafficking. Taking effect March 2,...
