Day: April 24, 2020

Categories
31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Proactive monitoring for continuous improvement


There are multiple areas in the DOJ’s 2019 Guidance which intersect with the area of continuous improvement. They include the following:
 Prior Indications – Were there prior opportunities to detect the misconduct in question, such as audit reports identifying relevant control failures or allegations, complaints, or investigations?  What is the company’s analysis of why such opportunities were missed? 
Remediation – What specific changes has the company made to reduce the risk that the same or similar issues will not occur in the future?  What specific remediation has addressed the issues identified in the root cause and missed opportunity analysis? 
This ties to the 2012 FCPA Guidance, which made clear that compliance audits, with actionable remediation plans, are a key component of any effective compliance program. Another way to do achieve these multiple and intersecting goals is through proactive monitoring. Proactive monitoring is an excellent technique through which a company can engage in continuous improvement. Nonetheless, it has many other benefits including regulatory and evidence in a criminal investigation if needed under anti-corruption laws such as the FCPA. The bottom line is that all those scenarios might justify a company to engage a proactive monitorship to come in and do a complete ethics.
 Three key takeaways:

  1. A proactive monitorship can be reactive proactivity to look at a specific issue…
  2. …or used to test a compliance program…
  3. …or used in a variety of legal and business manners.
Categories
Daily Compliance News

April 24, 2020-the M&A Not Dead (Yet) edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • M&A is not dead. (FT)
  • Businesses worry about opening too soon. (NYT)
  • Google institutes KYA. (NYT)
  • Who will protect workers? (Houston Chronicle)
Categories
Accountability: The Heart of Compliance

Personal Accountability During the Time of Coronavirus


We have been getting accountability all wrong in the compliance profession. It’s not a set of tasks – it’s a way of thinking and it has to come from the heart as well as the head. On Accountability: The Heart of Compliance Tom Fox and Sam Silverstein dig into what accountability means to the corporate compliance function and business organizations and most significantly, how to make it an integral part of your culture. In this episode Sam and I, consider personal accountability during this time of the Coronavirus health crisis and economic dislocation. Some of the highlights include:

  • Why are rational commitments so critical?
  • Why leaders must be committed to all employees.
  • Be accountable outside the office as well.
  • As a leader are you a steward to all stakeholders?

For more information on Sam Silverstein and his work on accountability, click here.

Categories
This Week in FCPA

Episode 202 – the Gronk Returns edition


As Gronk ends his self-imposed isolation from the Pats to rejoin the Golden Boy in Tampa Bay, self-distancing Tom and Jay are back to consider some of the top compliance articles and stories which caught their collective eye this week.

  1. For the SEC drops a Friday Happy Hour FCPA enforcement action involving ENI. Matt Kelly breaks the story in Radical Compliance. Tom provides lessons learned in the FCPA Compliance and Ethics Blog. Tom and Matt take a deep dive in their podcast Compliance into the Weeds. Harry Cassin in the FCPA Blog. Dylan Tokar reports in the WSK Risk and Compliance Journal.
  2. Tenacious whistleblower awarded $27MM. Kevin LaCroix in the D&O Diary.
  3. Some post COVID-19 scenarios. Gemma Aiolfi explores in the FCPA Blog.
  4. Leaders, dirty hands and COVID-19. Muel Kaptien in Risk and Compliance Platform Europe.
  5. Data and security requirements are here to stay. William Schildknecht in NYU’s Compliance and Enforcement Blog.
  6. Why companies should leave compliance alone. Jenna Voss, Christina Arianna and Chase Goldstein In CCI.
  7. EY takes a brand beating. Martin Woods in Compliance Week. (Sub Req’d)
  8. Where was, and is, and will be your Board? Carrie Penman asks in Navex Global’s Ethics and Compliance Matters
  9. Can the government forgfeit a defense lawyers fees? Sara Kropf explores in Part 2 on Grand Jury Target.
  10. On Compliance and Coronavirus this week: Fizza Khan on financial regulation during COVID-19; Gordon Firemark on force majeure; Sundar Narayanan on a CCO using empathy during the coronavirus crisis.
  11. On the Compliance Podcast Network, Tom continues his month of exploring continuous improvement, all on 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. This week saw the following offerings:Monday-keeping track of current events for continuous improvement; Tuesday-big data and continuous improvement; Wednesday-using big data; Thursday-measuring the effectiveness of a compliance program;  Friday-Proactive monitoring for continuous improvement. Note 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program now has its own iTunes channel. If you want to binge out and listen to only these episodes, click here. This month’s sponsor is Affiliated Monitors, Inc.

Tom Fox is the Compliance Evangelist and can be reached at tfox@tfoxlaw.com. Jay Rosen is Mr. Monitor and can be reached at jrosen@affiliatedmonitors.com.