Ten years ago, Sarbanes-Oxley was the focus of compliance and corporate governance reform.  Sarbanes-Oxley was enacted in response to major corporate scandals involving financial reporting fraud and accounting misrepresentations. Sarbanes-Oxley resulted in major corporate reforms of the auditing process, and corporate oversight of the financial and auditing process. For FCPA purposes, Sarbanes-Oxley is an important component in corporate decisions to disclose potential FCPA violations to...

FCPA practitioners pick through the pages and words underlying FCPA enforcement actions to look for clues, for new policies and government strategies.  It is a worthwhile process – the government sends important messages in its enforcement actions, ranging from cooperation credit, all the way to state-of-art compliance policies and procedures.  In many cases, a new trend can turn into an established practice in the matter...

I always say that the government does not enforce the laws in secret – they tell business what they plan to do and then they carry it out.  The announcement of an enforcement initiative is always followed by a series of press conferences announcing prosecutions under the initiative.  The examples of this include FCPA, healthcare fraud, export violations, gun violence, and on and on throughout...

Gone are the days when everyone wondered whether FCPA enforcement was slowing down.  The Justice Department and the SEC have answered that question with a resounding statement – “We are here to stay.” DOJ is leveraging its resources in a remarkable way – US Attorney’s Offices around the country are assisting DOJ’s FCPA Unit in the Fraud Section, and the results are becoming very clear. ...

“Success is a journey, not a destination. It requires constant effort, vigilance and re-evaluation” – Mark Twain “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others” – Bill Gates We all have known great “leaders” in our lifetime – a politician who inspired us, a public figure who we admire, and/or a boss or colleague who has impressed us professionally. ...

The New Year will bring a new focus on corporate board performance.  The aggressive enforcement environment has had a dramatic impact on corporate ethics and compliance.  CCOs have been empowered and gained independence. Reform at the corporate board level remains lackluster.  Shareholder activism has risen but there has been little change at the corporate board level. The next five years will see a surge in...

Webinar: January 23, 2014, 12 Noon EST Interviews and Internal Investigations Sign Up Here The ability to conduct an effective internal investigation is critical for every organization. The interviews of witnesses are the most important aspect of any internal investigation.There is a “skill” to conducting an interview. For a company facing a government investigation, it is important to collect information as quickly as possible to...

The compliance field has had an incredible five years.  From backwater offices and responsibilities, CCOs are now taking a seat at senior management tables to provide important risk-based assessments and policies to enhance ethics and compliance and avoid government investigations and shareholder lawsuits. The compliance field is at an important point.  Compliance professionals have to deliver.  Compliance officers need to develop effective strategies and tools....

I try to avoid New Year’s resolutions because I usually do not stick to them.  But the process is good as a way to organize your focus and energy. For Chief Compliance Officers, it is more important than ever to reexamine where they are professionally and set some goals for the year.  CCOs are quickly rising to the top of the professional ladder.  There is...

When it comes to predicting ethics and compliance trends and events for the new year, I admit I needed some help.  So I reached out to two leading ethics and compliance specialists in the industry – Donna Boehme (here) and Michael Scher (here), both of whom are well known and well regarded for their acumen and expertise in the ethics and compliance field. Working together,...