In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:
Author: admin
In this episode, I visit with Rod Grandon, Managing Director of Government Services, from Affiliated Monitors, Inc. we consider the types of things a monitor would review to determine if a company adequately considered ethics and compliance during the M&A process. Grandon sees two distinct phases in the M&A process; pre- and post-acquisition. In each phase an independent monitor would look at different aspects of it. The first is the planning, the negotiation and the due diligence. This review goes up to the point at which the transaction is completed. From there is the post-acquisition phase, the integration phase. Grandon sees a distinct role in both the pre and post-acquisition phases for an independent monitoring. During the pre-acquisition transaction phase an “independent monitor can come in without preconceived notions, without shackles, as to any corporate expectations and do that deep dive that is really necessary for the parties if that information is shared or at least one of the parties to gain an understanding of what is being purchased or what is missing.”
In the integration phase, he noted the type of culture which exists through working with the respective workforces to understand what are their cultures. Are these cultures compatible in terms of bringing together a program to promote ethics and compliance? This requires, in many cases, deep dives, particularly the use of focus groups to get down to the workforce to get a true understanding of what some of the cultural elements that are in play. And in many cases, this is just a critical and complicated piece. From there, Grandon advocates moving into the controls area to literally put an independent set of eyes on the internal compliance controls. This is to help the parties understand the risk environment they find themselves in and the culture that is in play for the post-acquisition phase.
Moving to the post-acquisition phase Grandon noted that the independent monitor can also provide a key piece to help the integration phase. It can be a critical asset in this process of coming in helping management understand what it has acquired. This is the point there are no limitations on getting in and doing that deep dive with the workforce which already knows it’s been merged or acquired. Also the public already knows so no excuses for not getting in and getting a very good understanding the culture and how the workforce sees the ethics and compliance structure of the company.
In today’s edition of 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program, I am joined by Vin DiCianni, founder of Affiliated Monitors. Vin provides insights into how the use of data can facilitate the management of third-parties after the contract is signed.
3 Key Takeaways
- the process of collecting data cleans up much risk and provides cost savings.
- More reliable data about third-parties will facilitate their more effective management.
- Using data to management third-parties will further operationalize your compliance program.
Welcome to the newest addition to the Compliance Podcast Network, Compliance and Coronavirus. In this episode, I visit with Don Stern who is Managing Director of Corporate Monitoring & Consulting Services. In this role, Stern oversees the company’s corporate monitoring programs across a spectrum of industries: corporate, healthcare, financial services, environmental and others. Stern is the former United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. We discuss how the enforcement agencies such as the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission and US Attorneys are responding to the pandemic and in particular any crimes, fraud and financial abuses arising out of the crisis.
Some of the highlights include:
- What are some of the key government initiatives during Covid-19?
- What will be the cadence of enforcement during the summer of 2020 and through the rest of the year?
- Has self-reporting become even more important during Covid-19?
For me information check out the Affiliated Monitors website here.
Welcome to the Great Women in Compliance Podcast, co-hosted by Lisa Fine and Mary Shirley.
In this episode of Great Women in Compliance, Lisa catches up with Lisa Beth Lentini Walker, who started Lumen Worldwide Endeavors where she combines her entrepreneurial mindset to consulting and coaching professionals and teams in the areas of risk, ethics and compliance. Notably, earlier this year, Lisa Beth became one of the co-founders of MentorCore, which is an organization created to help risk and compliance professionals connect by identifying mentor relationships, sharing insights and growing the leaders of the future.
MentorCore is unique in how it is trying to remove barriers for people in ethics and compliance in connecting with others who could benefit their careers. It is a combination of meeting personally (albeit virtually) while also forging 1:1 connections
Lisa Beth also talks about founding Lumen the challenges of COVID. She has pivoted both in her business model and the kind of work that is needed right now in the E&C field and also in coaching and mentoring.
Lisa Beth lives in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was murdered and her view of her community and what is happening now.
Join the Great Women in Compliance community on LinkedIn here.
Compliance into the Weeds is the only weekly podcast which takes a deep dive into a compliance related topic, literally going into the weeds to more fully explore a subject. In this episode Matt Kelly and Tom Fox take a look the economics of compliance conferences. Who will be the winners and losers with conferences going virtual through the rest of 2020 and beyond?
Some of the highlights include:
- Compliance conference economic basics.
- How does this change in the age of virtual events?
- What about compliance conferences that do not need to make money?
- What are the differences in live and virtual conferences and do those differences make a difference in the experience?
Resources
See Matt’s blog post, SCCE Conference Going Virtual on Radical Compliance.
In today’s edition of Daily Compliance News:
- ComEd faces rate rebate class action. (ChicagoTrib)
- Another 450K AML breaches reported by Westpac. (The Guardian)
- Steinhoff offers to pay $1bn for fraud and corruption. (Reuters.com)
- Aussie police charge bribe in Malaysian land deal. (Sydney Morning Herald)
The Compliance Life details the journey to and in the role of a Chief Compliance Officer. How does one come to sit in the CCO chair? What are some of the skills a CCO needs to success navigate the compliance waters in any company? What are some of the top challenges CCOs have faced and how did they meet them? These questions and many others will be explored in this new podcast series. Over four episodes each month on The Compliance Life, I visit with one current or former CCO to explore their journey to the CCO chair. This month, my guest is Scott Sullivan, the Chief Integrity and Compliance Officer at Newmont Mining.
Scott Sullivan is a versatile and innovative governance, risk, compliance, ethics and legal executive with significant experience advising C-suite leaders and Boards of Directors in a global enterprise in a wide array of sensitive, high profile subject matter areas. He has extensive leadership in designing, implementing and enhancing world-class programs and favorably resolving regulatory crises for multinationals. He has managed ethics and compliance for a $5B global Fortune 500 corporation, directing a Business Integrity & Compliance function impacting 20,000 employees in over 55 countries with over 100 legal entities.
In this final episode, Sullivan discusses how the role of a CCO has evolved from a legal response to government enforcement under the FCPA; driven by lawyers to something else. We consider some of some of the biggest changes for Sullivan has observed. We conclude by looking down the road, as we move into the 2020s where Sullivan sees compliance moving to? It includes data, data, data – continuous monitoring, automation, finely tuned machine and how some of the changes wrought by Covid-19 accelerate these trends and perhaps others; including remote options, less travel and opportunities outside traditional comfort zone for compliance professionals.
One of the areas many companies do not focus on enough is possible corruption in their supply chain for goods and services provided on a company’s behalf. The FCPA risks can be just as great through those entry points as it can be through the sales side of an organization. You need to know who your company is doing business with through this channel as much as you need to know your agents seeking business opportunities on your behalf. Most companies have exponentially more vendors than sales agents, so this task may seem daunting. However, a well thought out plan to risk rank your company’s third-parties on the supply chain side can go a long way towards ameliorating this issue. The key is to set reasonable parameters and then management those third-parties which present true corruption risk to your organization.
This determination of the level of due diligence and categorization of a supplier should depend on a variety of factors, including, such factors as whether the supplier is (1) located, or will operate, in a high risk country; (2) associated, or recommended or required by, a government official; (3) currently under corruption investigation, or has been recently convicted of any form of corruption; (4) a multinational publicly traded corporation with a recognized exemplary system of compliance and internal controls; or (5) a provider of widely available services and products that are not industry specific. You should note that any supplier, which has foreign government touch points, should move up into a higher level of scrutiny.
My suggestion is that you create a three-tiered risk matrix consisting of (1) high-risk suppliers, (2) low-risk suppliers, and (3) minimal-risk suppliers. Below this final category is another category for providers of goods which are commonly available and pose almost no corruption risk.
You need to risk rank the third-parties which your supply chain might engage with for FCPA exposure. It should be based on your company’s experience and risk going forward. As with all other third-party risk management issues, you must “Document, Document, and Document”.
Three key takeaways:
- Risk rank your supply chain based on well-conceived strata.
- Consider not only the compliance risk but also your business risk.
- Only manage those suppliers which present a corruption risk.
Welcome to the newest addition to the Compliance Podcast Network, Compliance and Coronavirus. In this episode, I visit with Jerry Coyne who is Managing Director of State Monitoring Services at Affiliated Monitors, Inc. At Affiliated Monitors, Mr. Coyne oversees monitoring agreements with corporations, healthcare entities and individuals. We discuss the rise of telemedicine during the Covid-19 health crisis and what it may mean for compliance.
Some of the highlights include:
- What is telemedicine?
- Why has it risen so quickly during the Coronavirus health crisis?
- What are some of the compliance, data privacy and other challenges arising from the rise of telemedicine?
For me information check out the Affiliated Monitors website here.
