Day: October 16, 2020

Categories
31 Days to More Effective Compliance Programs

Evaluating pre-acquisition risk factors

What you should do with the information that you obtain in your pre-acquisition compliance due diligence. Your approach should review key risk factors which should prompt a purchaser to conduct extra careful, heightened due diligence or even reconsider moving forward with an acquisition under extreme circumstances.
In the 2020 Update to the Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs, the DOJ stated “the extent to which a company subjects its acquisition targets to appropriate scrutiny is indicative of whether its compliance program is, as implemented, able to effectively enforce its internal controls and remediate misconduct at all levels of the organization. The following question was posed, Who conducted the risk review for the acquired/merged entities and how was it done? The bottom line is that you must use the information you have obtain in the due diligence process and have an auditable trail if the regulators come knocking.
Three key takeaways:

  1. Create a list of key risk factors in your protocol.
  2. Create a forced risk ranking, but remember it is simply that, a forced risk ranking.
  3. Your pre-acquisition team should include a suitable combination of legal, accounting, and compliance personnel.
Categories
FCPA Compliance Report

Carrie Penman on Beyond the Moment


In this podcast, I am joined I am joined by Carrie Penman, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at NAVEX Global, Inc. We visit about their upcoming 2020 virtual conference, NAVEX Next, which is entitled Beyond the Moment. NAVEX Next presents an opportunity to discuss many of these issues.
The theme, Beyond the Moment, defines the 2020 agenda and supports sessions that will help you and your organization move past a defensive stance on current events and trends. The goal is to help everyone be proactive and more holistic in their approach to risk and compliance management. If there is one key message that I have garnered in talking to compliance and other professionals about Coronavirus is that the future demands we be prepared, no matter what comes next.
What are some of the key themes for this conference? Obviously the Coivd-19 lockdowns, work from home and remote working environments have changed a large number of risk factors that every Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) needs to consider from a risk perspective and address from a variety of angles; such as data privacy/protection, communications and training and ongoing engagement.
Last year, NAVEX’s virtual conference had over 9,000 registrants. Best of all is the cost of the conference, its FREE. That is right, all of the above is available at no charge. NAVEX Global has submitted the conference to the Compliance Certification Board (CCB)® and is pending their review for approval of CCB CEUs. It will be held Thursday, October 22, from 10 AM to 4 PM Central Time. I hope that you will plan to join me for this great event. Registration, agenda and other information are available here.
For more information on Navex Global, click here.

Categories
This Week in FCPA

Episode 226– the Losing My Yips edition


As the (non-cheating) Houston Astros attempt to return to the World Series, Tom and Jay are back to look at top compliance articles and stories which caught their eye this week.

  1. J&F Investments settles FCPA criminal case. Harry Cassin (as usual) breaks the story in FCPA Blog.
  2. Why third-party due diligence is an ongoing exercise. Mike Volkov in Corruption Crime and Compliance. Jim Nortz takes a deep dive into 3rd party risk management in Part 1 of a six-part series on CCI.
  3. Citigroup spanked for $400MM by OCC and the Fed. Matt Kelly with a double dive on Radical Compliance (Part 1 & Part 2). Matt and Tom take a deep dive on Compliance into the Weeds.
  4. Ephemeral messaging frowned upon by SEC. Jonathan Marks in Board and Fraud.
  5. The WEF’s ESG reporting now includes anti-corruption metrics. Worth MacMurray and Elaine Dezenski in the FCPA Blog.
  6. Supply Chains under more scrutiny. Vera Cherepanova in Navex Global’s Risk and Compliance Matters.
  7. Some open-door tales. Richard Leisner with a guest post on the D&O Diary.
  8. Do the FinCen Papers show we need an AM whistleblower protection program? Hamsa Mahendranathan in NYU Compliance and Enforcement Blog.
  9. On the Compliance Podcast Network, on 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program, we continue our exploration of compliance for Business Ventures. Monday-Safe Harbor in M&A; Tuesday-Pre-acquisition DD, the business perspective (with special guest Vin DiCianni); Wednesday– Pre-acquisition risk assessment; Thursday– Pre-acquisition due diligence; Friday-Integrating post acquisition (with special guest Eric Feldman). 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.
  10. Join Tom and Sam Silverstein for an Executive Forum on Ethics and Accountability on October 28, 2020 12-1 PM CT. Check at the agenda and register here.
  11. Join Tom, Holly Sais Phillippi, Head of Americas Risk Sales, Refinitiv and Kelly M. Slavitt in a Refinitiv sponsored webinar, The Future of Due Diligence: Third-Party Risk in the Era of COVID-19, Tuesday, October 27, 1-2 PM CT. Check at the agenda and register here.
  12. Check out the Navex Next 9th Annual Risk & Compliance Virtual Conference event Beyond the Moment October 22 from 10 AM to 4 PM. Check at the agenda and register here.

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.

Categories
Daily Compliance News

October 16, 2020-the Wells Fargo Corruption Continues edition


In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:

  • Wells Fargo fires over 100 for lying about PPP loan apps. (Forbes)
  • Store workers get fight prevention training for Covidiots. (NYT)
  • Largest criminal tax evasion case ever filed. (WSJ)
  • It turns out businesses want D&I training. (WSJ)