Day 26 | Operationalizing compliance through payroll
Day 25 | Compliance function in an organization
Day 24 | CCO authority and independence
Day 29 of 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program
FCPA Compliance and Ethics Report-Episode 30-Interview with the FCPA Professor-Part 2
In March 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the resolution of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement action involving the Swiss trading firm G Trafigura Beheer B.V. (Trafigura), an international...more
What is the value of having a Code of Conduct? In its early days, a Code of Conduct tended to be lawyer-written and lawyer-driven to wave in regulator’s face during an enforcement action as proof of ethical overall behavior....more
Early in October at the 2023 SCCE Compliance and Ethics Institute, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco delivered a long-anticipated speech expanding and formalizing the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) new Safe Harbor for...more
Let’s move beyond the headline – trade compliance is the new FCPA. We get it. The next step is to do something about it. The Justice Department has repeated this refrain – it is one of its greatest hits. In addition, DOJ,...more
You could begin with the Transparency International-Corruption Perception Index (TI-CPI) to garner a sense of the reputation of the country in which your business unit is located, as well as the CPI for all other countries in...more
On July 3, 2020, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released “A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Second Edition”. This updated edition is a concerted effort of the DOJ, Securities Exchange Commission...more
The call, email or tip comes into your office; an employee reports suspicious activity somewhere across the globe. That activity might well turn into a FCPA issue for your company. As the CCO, it will be up to you to begin...more
When I started in compliance, it was all lawyer-driven; Codes of Conduct, policies and procedures were all written by lawyers, for lawyers. These documents were designed to lay out the “thou shall nots” for the...more
Today, I consider what techniques you, as Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), can use to create continuous improvement in your compliance program. ...more
One of the lessons we have learned from various Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions over the years is how complexity in business organizations can work to defeat compliance programs. ...more
The Department Of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have both made it clear that they expect companies to be more robust in their use of data analytics in compliance programs....more
Today, I want to focus on what the compliance practitioner should do to move themselves forward professionally in 2020 and beyond. I drew inspiration from the Financial Times (FT) piece, entitled “Work in the 2020s: 5...more
2019 has been a very significant year for every compliance practitioner and compliance program. There were three significant releases of information by the federal government which directly impacted compliance professionals...more
A key analysis is whether there are controls in place to enforce the policies and whether those controls are documented. To help to answer this query, there are four issues to evaluate...more
The past few months have provided the compliance professional with two very useful releases of information from the Department of Justice (DOJ) around compliance programs. April saw the release of the Evaluation of Corporate...more
Internal controls are a key tool to operationalize your third-party risk management program. The basic internal controls, that should be a part of any financial controls system. There were four significant controls the...more
Once you demonstrate you are ethically challenged or maintain a moral flexibility that allows you to lie, cheat and steal; it is highly likely you will continue to do so....more
Today at the Ethics and Compliance Initiative (ECI) Impact 2019 Conference, Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski delivered the afternoon Keynote Address. He gave some significant comments around the corporate...more
Can you hire a foreign official as your agent? Is a foreign official always a foreign official for the purposes of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)? Can a person be a foreign official yet not under a contract for...more
This year is the 15th anniversary of Affiliated Monitors, Inc. (AMI). Next week I am running a five-part podcast series on the history of AMI and the sweep of history in the rise of independent monitors as well as the...more
This week I am running a special five-part sponsored podcast series with Vincent DiCianni, founder and President of Affiliated Monitors, Inc. (AMI) and Eric Feldman, Senior Vice President of AMI. ...more
In a number of enforcement contexts, I am always struck by a common theme – crooks are able to obtain access to corporate money for improper purposes. You never hear about a crook who uses his own money to pay bribes or...more
This year is the 200thanniversary of the birth of Wuthering Heights’ author, Emily Brontë. While her sister Charlotte received more acclaim as an author, I found Wuthering Heights to appeal much more greatly to my dark side. ...more
In this multi-part blog post series, I am exploring the increased use of technology to continue to drive the performance of corporate compliance programs. I am considering the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a best...more
What are the considerations a company should employ when retaining a corporate monitor? I recently put that question to Vincent L. DiCianni, founder and President of Affiliated Monitors, Inc. (AMI), and Eric R. Feldman,...more