Global anti-corruption enforcement is fast becoming a complicated affair. No longer can companies just focus on the FCPA, with momentary blips of concern for the UK Bribery Act. The OECD and other international organizations want to see aggressive enforcement around the globe, and they are doing a great job of pushing countries on this issue. Of course, the more cynical view is that more countries...

Due diligence of third parties can drive you crazy. You know you are in trouble when you start babbling to yourself and others about red flags, more red flags, and even more red flags. You can start thinking that the movie, “The Shining” was a documentary depicting your third-party due diligence process. When this happens, you need an intervention. Someone has to say, enough is...

If anyone wants proof that the compliance profession is on the rise, if anyone still doubts that the young professional of compliance is rapidly growing, all you have to do is attend an annual meeting of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (“SCCE”). I had the honor of attending and speaking the recent SCCE meeting in Chicago. What an amazing event. The energy and...

Compliance officers face lots of challenges when conducting third-party due diligence. One issue that frequently arises is determining who exactly owns a potential agent or distributor. In many circumstance compliance officers have a difficult time peeling back the layers of legal ownership, examining related party ownership stakes and other complexities designed to obfuscate the true ownership of the third-party. In the financial industry, the inquiry...

The debate over corporate wrongdoing, punishment and deterrence continues.   Corporations are not people but are entities that operate through collective behavior. It is interesting to consider whether individual punishment versus corporate entity punishment effectively deters corporate wrongdoing. After all, a company is only liable for individual conduct that is attributed to the organization. The issue of corporate wrongdoing is on the front burner at the...

It is time for another in my series of profound grasps of the obvious – compliance comes down to people. A company violates its code or the law because of human actions or inaction. Usually it is a conscious decision to act or not to act; sometimes, a violation is unintentional. There is what I call the human factor to compliance. I know this sounds...

A joint venture can create layers and layers of risk for compliance officers. It is always good to start from the inside and work your way out. If your joint venture partner is a state-owned enterprise, or even more difficult, if your joint venture partner includes a state-owned enterprise in its ownership, the headaches can start to mount. Sometimes it is good to graph out...

One of the more challenging areas in the anti-corruption field is navigating joint venture risks.   Companies rely on joint venture partners for a variety of purposes – local partners know the geographic market, have a specific skill set that integrate well with the company’s operations, and offer a cost-effective means to expand company operations into foreign markets. Joint ventures create a distinct set of risks...

Compliance officers need to dig into and understand a company’s internal controls. Many compliance officers tend to leave that issue to Internal Auditors – that is a big mistake. Compliance officers have to be multi-disciplinary experts, ranging from legal, to financial and business strategies. Frankly, in the corporate governance world, compliance officers serve as internal psychologists, cheerleaders, strategists, and overall hand-holders. Compliance officers have to...