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...

An effective due diligence screening program should include instances when a company decides not to engage an agent or distributor. It is hard to persuade the business side of this fact but success does not necessarily flow from blind acceptance of every potential third-party. We are all focused on success and approval of business partners. However, there are situations where a third-party is just not...

Most lawyers are not creative people. After all, there is a reason they went into the law. Lawyers who deal with anti-corruption risks and third parties need to expand their horizons and consider using creative solutions to reduce and minimize risk. In the anti-corruption compliance arena, many companies are following a standard formula for certifications, representations and warranties. Lawyers involved in these issues have passed...

A last-minute notice — September 4, 2014, Sign up for NAVES Global’s free webinar, Policy Management Practices: A How-To Guide.  In the second session of NAVEX Global’s three-part Policy Management Bootcamp, you will learn how to assemble a policy oversight committee, document the policy development process and ensure policies meet long-term compliance goals. SIGN UP HERE  

The Department of Justice and the SEC know they can push companies to expand and improve their anti-corruption compliance programs. They are well aware that the requirements set forth in their settlement documents, as well as the critical “Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance Program” in the FCPA Guidance, have resulted in expansion and improvement of anti-corruption compliance efforts. One specific area is the ever-increasing requirement...

I thought it would be helpful to run a series this week on the third-party due diligence process. It is one of my favorite topics and one that requires careful and continuing attention. I have put together a four-part series on some significant issues. Today we start with agent and distributor monitoring. The field of due diligence has quickly filled up. If you look at...

Taking Third Party Due Diligence to the Next Level  Webinar: September 23, 12 Noon EST Sign Up Here Companies are implementing due diligence programs to screen and monitor third party intermediaries. In doing so, companies are considering cutting edge techniques and technologies to improve the detection and prevention of fraud, bribery and other misconduct. At the same time, companies need to employ creative problem-solving techniques...

We all know the legal maxim – justice delayed is justice denied. The origins of the phrase go way back in history. Martin Luther King Jr. used the phrase in his letter from Birmingham jail in 1963, stating “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” The principle underlies much of our justice system, including the Constitutional right to a speedy trial. As a former prosecutor...