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The Justice Department and the SEC have pushed extraordinary changes in the field of anti-corruption compliance. If one looks back five years ago and compares the so-called best-practices from 2008 and compares them to recent pronouncements on anti-corruption compliance, the differences are stark. Here is a
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Sometimes predictions come true. Starting in 2011, the SEC sent shock waves through the private equity industry when it launched a general inquiry into private equity compliance with the FCPA. The SEC issued ten letters to investment banks and private equity companies requesting information about their interactions with sovereign wealth
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The difference between white collar and violent crime usually comes down to this: In most cases of violent crime, the actor’s state of mind is not at issue: the cases often center on whether the specific person charged was the one who killed/shot/assaulted the victim; if he
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As I get older, I try and convince myself I am getting wiser. But I know that is not right. Maybe a better way to say it is I am better at guessing. Some like to call that educated guessing. Talk about an oxymoron. I can never understand why companies
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The title for this posting is a little ambiguous. What is the “cost” of compliance? Is it the cost of implementing an “effective” compliance program? Or is the “cost” to the company of an “ineffective” compliance program. Let’s just say it is both. I often criticize the compliance profession
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I was never a big fan of the Reagan Administration’ solution to America’s drug problem – Just Say No. The phrase was a simple solution to a more complex problem, one that people now recognize as a health problem rather than a question of free will. My concerns with the
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When it comes to compliance, the best investment a company can make is to create and promote an ethical culture. Dollar for dollar, communicating this message is the money well spent. A CEO has to commit time and effort to the program. If the CEO does not want to commit,
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The GM scandal is unfolding and provides important reminders for everyone involved in compliance and how to respond to a corporate scandal. GM faces a significant set of challenges. A faulty ignition device has been linked to a number of crashes resulting in over 10 deaths. GM decided not to
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“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please” – Mark Twain Corporate boards have to be more involved and informed. I know this sounds like a profound grasp of the obvious but corporate governance needs to move forward. This is not rocket science – we have all faced
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Chief Compliance Officers always are asked to do more with less. It is a simple and overused phrase, usually promoted by corporate bean counters looking for ways to justify decisions that serve their own financial interests. There has to be a better way to coin this phrase in the compliance
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If you want to do the right thing in the ethics and compliance world, follow Donna Boehme (on Twitter (here)), in her regular columns in Corporate Counsel and other publications, and at her website (here)). Donna knows what she is talking about. She consistently challenges the idea of “tone-at-
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Chief Compliance Officers act with integrity. When it comes to their work, they know when an organization is committed to compliance. They also know when ethics and compliance is “window dressing.” The recent announcement that JP Morgan’s CCO is leaving after one year is a very telling development. When