Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance brings to you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen in to the Daily Compliance News. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional.
The original version of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), enacted in 1977, contained an exception for payments made to non-US officials who performed duties that were “essentially ministerial or clerical”. In 1988 Congress responded by amending the FCPA under the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act to clarify the scope of the FCPA’s prohibitions on bribery, including the scope of permitted facilitation payments. An expanded definition of “routine governmental action” was included in the final version of the bill, reflecting the intent of Congress that the exceptions apply only to the performance of duties listed in the subcategories of the statute and actions of a similar nature. Congress also meant to make clear that “ordinarily and commonly performed actions”, with respect to permits or licenses, would not include those governmental approvals involving an exercise of discretion by a government official where the actions are the functional equivalent of “obtaining or retaining business for, or with, or directing business to, any person.”
Three key takeaways:
- Many companies still struggle with facilitation payments.
- What are the five listed purposes for facilitation payments?
- The facilitation payment exception is narrowly construed by both the courts and the Justice Department.
For more information, check out The Compliance Handbook, 4th edition, here.
Sometimes you just have to go meta. After having recorded, produced, hosted and guested in over 5000 podcasts; Tom Fox decided it was time to have a podcast about what else–podcasting. In this podcast series, Tom will visit with podcast hosts to learn about their love of podcasting, what they have been able to achieve through podcasting and why you need to consider starting your own podcast. Fun, witty, chatty with a dash of joie de vivre this series will be entertaining and educational. Join Tom Fox as he explores the world of podcasting and get ready to be inspired to start your own podcast. In this episode, Tom visits with Megan Dougherty, co-founder of One Stone Creative about the upcoming Podcasting for Business Conference which will be held virtually November 13-15.
Megan Dougherty is a renowned figure in the podcasting industry, known for her expertise in strategies and best practices for effective business podcasting. Her perspective on the subject is shaped by her extensive experience in podcast business development and her success in launching podcasts. Megan emphasizes the importance of providing valuable information for podcasters who use their podcasts to support their businesses. She believes in the power of translating expert information to a layperson audience, the significance of remote team collaboration in podcast management and production, and the need for a holistic approach to measuring podcast reach beyond just downloads. She also highlights the potential of social media tools in expanding podcast engagement. Join Tom Fox and Megan Dougherty as they delve deeper into these insights on the next episode of the Fox on Podcasting podcast.
Key Highlights:
· Translating Complex Information for Podcast Audiences
· Maximizing Podcast Reach with Strategic Guest Selection
· Podcast Power: Real-Life Brand-Audience Connections
· Insights and Strategies for Business Podcasting
Resources:
Megan Dougherty on LinkedIn
One Stone Creative
Podcasting for Business Conference
Tom
Categories
Leveraging Technology for Culture Monitoring
Welcome to a special five-part blog series on building a stronger culture of compliance, sponsored by Diligent. In this series I will visit with Yvette Hollingsworth-Clark, Viktor Cuijak, Jessica Czeczuga; Michael Parker; and Alexander Cotoia. In this series, we will consider what is culture, how to assess culture, putting together a strategy to manage culture based upon this assessment, the monitoring of that strategy going forward and using information from your monitoring to engage in continuous improvement of your culture.
Many compliance professionals struggle with the ‘softness’ of culture. However, properly viewed culture can be seen as another type of risk for any organization. Viewed through this lens, culture can then be assessed, managed, monitored and improved as any other business risk. This has become even more important since the announcement in October 2021 by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, that the Department of Justice would assess corporate culture as a part of corporate compliance enforcement action. In this Part 4, we consider review how to monitor your culture risk strategy for effectiveness with Michael Parker.
Michael Parker is a seasoned compliance professional with extensive experience in cultivating and sustaining a compliance culture within businesses. He asserts that there is no universal approach to establishing a compliance culture, emphasizing the necessity of providing options and guidance to employees, rather than merely imposing rules. Parker underscores the importance of continuous engagement and communication in managing compliance culture risks, and the crucial role of leadership in setting the tone for compliance and fostering an ethical culture throughout the organization. He also acknowledges the significance of incentives in promoting compliance, but stresses that the approach to incentivizing employees should be customized to individual circumstances and should include a clear understanding of the consequences of non-compliance.
Leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering a culture of compliance. Executives must lead by example and embody the organization’s mission and values. As Michael Parker emphasizes, it is not just about telling employees what to do but guiding them towards making the right decisions. Providing options and knowledge is essential, as people may unknowingly make decisions that go against policies or regulations due to a lack of information.
To ensure ongoing engagement, businesses should view compliance as an ongoing process rather than a one-time activity. This approach involves continuous listening and asking for feedback from employees. It is important to provide guidance rather than just guidelines, helping individuals understand the purpose behind compliance policies. By championing the organization’s values and mission, leadership can create a trickle-down effect, encouraging employees to align their actions with the desired culture.
Incentives also play a significant role in promoting compliance. Just as third parties have an incentive to complete certifications and engage in compliance efforts to do business with a company, employees have a vested interest in working for an organization that upholds ethical standards. By aligning incentives with compliance initiatives, businesses can motivate employees to actively participate in maintaining a compliance culture.
Technology can be a valuable tool in monitoring and educating employees about compliance. Micro-learning courses, compliance training videos, quizzes, and surveys can be used to deliver targeted and concise information. Short videos with quizzes can help raise awareness and educate employees on compliance topics. Surveys, when kept short and incentivized, can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of compliance efforts and help measure the culture of compliance within the organization.
Tracking and storing compliance-related information is essential for transparency and visibility. Utilizing applications with dashboards can help businesses monitor engagement, track completion rates of training videos, and collect survey responses. This data can provide compliance officers with valuable information for ongoing monitoring and identifying areas that require additional training or education.
I believe the key is in viewing culture as a risk and applying risk management principles to assess and monitor compliance efforts. By treating culture as a risk, businesses can assess their compliance risk, identify gaps, and remediate as necessary. This approach allows for a systematic and proactive approach to managing compliance culture.
However, creating and maintaining a compliance culture is not without its challenges. Compliance fatigue can occur if communication and education efforts become overwhelming or burdensome. To combat this, shorter and more interactive methods, such as micro-learning and office hours, can be implemented. These shorter bursts of information align with today’s culture of brief and engaging content, making compliance education more accessible and less burdensome.
In conclusion, creating and maintaining a compliance culture in businesses requires a multifaceted approach. Leadership must champion the organization’s values and mission, while incentives and technology can motivate and educate employees. Viewing culture as a risk and applying risk management principles can help businesses assess and monitor their compliance efforts. By considering the impact on employees and adapting communication and education methods to align with today’s culture, businesses can foster a strong compliance culture that promotes ethical behavior and regulatory adherence.
Join us tomorrow where we explore the continuous improvement of corporate culture.
Tune into Michael Parker on the Diligent podcast series Unlocking Success: The Crucial Role of Culture in a Best Practices Compliance Program.
Welcome to a special series on building a stronger culture of compliance through targeted and effective training sponsored by Diligent. I will visit with Yvette Hollingsworth-Clark, Viktor Culjak, Jessica Czeczuga, Michael Parker, and Alexander Cotoia in this series. Over this series, we will consider what culture is, how to assess culture, putting together a strategy to manage culture based upon this assessment, monitoring that strategy in the future, and using information from your monitoring to improve your culture continuously. In Part 4, we visit with Michael Parker to discuss a strategy to monitor your culture in the future.
Michael Parker is a seasoned compliance professional with extensive experience cultivating and sustaining a business compliance culture. He does not believe there is a one-stop, universal approach to establishing a compliance culture, emphasizing the necessity of providing options and guidance to employees rather than merely imposing rules. Michael underscores the importance of continuous engagement and communication in managing compliance culture risks and the crucial role of leadership in setting the tone for compliance and fostering an ethical culture throughout the organization. He also acknowledges the significance of incentives in promoting compliance. Still, he stresses that incentivizing employees should be customized to individual circumstances and include a clear understanding of the consequences of non-compliance. Join Tom Fox and Michael Parker as they delve deeper into how to monitor your compliance program after you have created a culture management strategy in this episode of Unlocking Success: The Crucial Role of Culture in Compliance Best Practices podcast episode.
Key Highlights:
- Building a Compliance-Focused Leadership Culture
- Leveraging Technology for Compliance Monitoring and Training
- Driving Compliance Culture Through Executive Leadership
Ready for Purpose-Driven Compliance? Diligent equips leaders with the tools to build, monitor, and maintain an open, transparent ethics and compliance culture. For more information and to book a demo, visit Diligent.com.
Join us tomorrow in our concluding episode, where we continuously consider how to improve culture in the future.
Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance brings to you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen in to the Daily Compliance News. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional.
- Huge oil field discovered of Namibia. What could go wrong? (YaHoo Finance)
- Qatargate prosecutors to be investigated. (Politico)
- Another CEO ousted for sexual harassment. (WSJ)
- Regime changes means fighting corruption in Gabon. (France 24)
The FCPA states, “The FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions apply to corrupt payments made to (1) “any foreign official”; (2) “any foreign political party or official thereof”; (3) “any candidate for foreign political office”; or (4) any person, while knowing that all or a portion of the payment will be offered, given, or promised to an individual falling within one of these three categories. Although the statute distinguishes between a “foreign official,” “foreign political party or official thereof,” and “candidate for foreign political office,” the term “foreign official” in this guide generally refers to an individual falling within any of these three categories.” Government policies affect the commercial environment. A company is subject to legislation and regulation that affects how it conducts its business and generates value for its investors. Participating in the political process is part of a business strategy to protect a company’s interests.
Most international businesses have strategy to engage in the political process with a view to the long-term interests of the company and to promote and protect its interests. All political contributions and expenditures on behalf of the Company and management reports on these political contributions and expenditures should be reported to the Board of Directors annually. No political contributions may be made or promised unless written pre-approval has been obtained from the corporate compliance function.
Three key takeaways:
- Political candidates are covered by the FCPA.
- What is the business purpose for the contribution?
- Do not make contributions towards candidates who can award your company business.
For more information, check out The Compliance Handbook, 4th edition, here.
The ESG Report podcast is hosted by Tom Fox. Looking for innovative solutions to tackle climate change? Look no further than The ESG Report! In this episode, Tom speaks with Kai Gray, CEO and co-founder of Motive, a software company focused on ESG data management.
In this podcast conversation with Tom Fox, they discuss the growing significance of ESG in various industries and its connection to compliance. They explore the role of compliance officers in ESG, the influence of large corporate customers on driving ESG down the supply chain, and the need for standardized measures and reporting. The discussion also delves into the expanding role of compliance in incorporating external stakeholder feedback and addressing non-financial metrics. The future of ESG is predicted to involve more companies integrating it into annual reports, stricter regulations, penalties for greenwashing, and the evolution of ESG ratings. The conversation highlights the importance of clarity and understanding within the ESG industry.
Key Highlights
· Kai Gray’s Journey into ESG
· Evolution of a Company’s Focus
· ESG as a Business Driver
· ESG’s Influence on Compliance
· ESG Regulation and the Future
Resources
Kai Gray on LinkedIn
Tom Fox
Connect with me on the following sites:
Categories
Managing Culture Risk
Welcome to a special five-part blog series on building a stronger culture of compliance, sponsored by Diligent. In this series I will visit with Yvette Hollingsworth-Clark, Viktor Cuijak, Jessica Czeczuga; Michael Parker; and Alexander Cotoia. In this series, we will consider what is culture, how to assess culture, putting together a strategy to manage culture based upon this assessment, the monitoring of that strategy going forward and using information from your monitoring to engage in continuous improvement of your culture.
Many compliance professionals struggle with the ‘softness’ of culture. However, properly viewed culture can be seen as another type of risk for any organization. Viewed through this lens, culture can then be assessed, managed, monitored and improved as any other business risk. This has become even more important since the announcement in October 2021 by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, that the Department of Justice would assess corporate culture as a part of corporate compliance enforcement action. In this Part 3, we consider how to manage your culture risk through the crucial role of managers with assess your culture with Jessica Czeczuga.
Jessica Czeczuga is a seasoned professional with over two decades of experience in the training and development field, specializing in areas such as finance, quality, compliance and ethics, leadership, and communication training. Jessica brings a unique perspective to the compliance space, emphasizing the pivotal role of managers in shaping and reinforcing company culture. She believes that managers, being the most influential group within an organization, should be adequately trained to align with the desired culture and equipped with the necessary tools to effectively communicate and reinforce cultural values. Jessica also advocates for the collaboration between compliance professionals and HR to improve culture, leveraging their counseling skills and creating clear processes for reporting and addressing culture-related issues.
According to Czeczuga, managers are the most influential group in an organization when it comes to shaping company culture. They are the boots on the ground, constantly interacting with the employees that report to them. Their ability to talk and influence gives them a lot of power in driving the desired culture. Therefore, it is crucial for organizations to reach out to managers and get them on board with the desired culture, as they will naturally drive that message deeper into the organization.
She emphasized the importance of managers in shaping and reinforcing company culture was discussed. Managers play a significant role in driving the desired culture deeper into the organization, as they are in constant contact with employees and have the ability to support, promote, permit, or ignore certain behaviors and values.
To effectively manage culture, compliance professionals need to empower and train managers. Just like any other training program, a strong training program should be set up for managers, focusing not only on providing them with information about the desired culture but also on practical application. Role-playing and conversations with employees are key to driving behavior change and ensuring that managers are equipped to deliver the desired cultural messages.
The collaboration between HR and compliance departments is also important in reinforcing the importance of culture and driving a culture of reporting. HR, with its extensive touchpoints with employees, plays a crucial role in reinforcing compliance and culture messages. By partnering with HR, compliance professionals can ensure that the messages about culture are consistent and delivered from multiple angles, making them stronger and more impactful.
HR can also provide valuable insights and skills to the compliance function. HR has as many touchpoints with employees as any other corporate function, making it an ideal partner for compliance in reinforcing culture. HR can help compliance professionals in delivering messages about culture to different levels of employees and can provide guidance on how to address culture issues in conversations with employees.
The key takeaway is that managers have a crucial role in shaping and reinforcing company culture. They are the gatekeepers of culture and have the power to drive the desired culture deeper into the organization. To effectively manage culture, compliance professionals should focus on empowering and training managers, while also collaborating with HR to reinforce culture messages. Practical application, such as role-playing and conversations with employees, is key to driving behavior change and ensuring that managers are equipped to deliver the desired cultural messages.
In conclusion, the role of managers in shaping and reinforcing company culture cannot be underestimated. They have the ability to support, promote, permit, or ignore certain behaviors and values, making them the most influential group in an organization when it comes to culture. By empowering and training managers, and collaborating with HR, compliance professionals can effectively manage culture and drive the desired behaviors and values throughout the organization.
Join us tomorrow where we explore monitoring culture.
Tune into Jessica Czeczuga on the Diligent podcast series Unlocking Success: The Crucial Role of Culture in a Best Practices Compliance Program.
The award winning, 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. Looking for some hard-hitting insights on sanctions compliance? Look no further than Compliance into the Weeds! In this episode, Tom and Matt consider the recent MGM Reports data breach and what it may mean for CCOs and Danny Ocean.
The MGM Grand data breach, a significant cyber-attack that disrupted MGM Resorts’ operations across the U.S., has raised serious concerns about cybersecurity and regulatory requirements. Tom and Matt discuss the potential financial impact and regulatory investigations that may arise from the breach, emphasizes the severity of the situation and the potential consequences for MGM.
They also question MGM’s disaster recovery and business continuity plans and raises concerns about the network design vulnerabilities that allowed the attack to have such a widespread impact. He also discusses the implications of the breach in relation to new SEC rules mandating the disclosure of material cybersecurity events by public companies. Join Tom Fox and Matt Kelly as they delve deeper into these issues in this episode of the Compliance into the Weeds podcast.
Key Highlights
· MGM Grand Cyber Attack Disrupts Operations
· Understanding the Impact of Qualitatively Material Cybersecurity Incidents
· Navigating Material Cybersecurity Event Disclosure Requirements
· Inadequate backup plans leading to operational disruptions
· MGM’s Ransomware Attack and Business Continuity
Resources
Matt in LinkedIn
Tom