31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program
Episodes
Compliance and the clash of cultures
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the more difficult things to predict in the mergers and acquisition context is how the cultures of the two entities will merge. Further, while ...
Sharing to 360-degrees of communication
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why do people share information? The answer to that question has important implications for every compliance practitioner and compliance program. Shar...
Using social media to innovate in compliance
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
I am a huge fan of using social media in your compliance function. But how can you get your arms around how to structure such a program for your compa...
The D&B experience in 360 Degrees of Communications
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How does one company and one CCO actively use social media to make the company’s compliance culture more effective? The company was Dun & Bradstreet...
Social media is a 360-degree conversation
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is the message of compliance inside of a corporation and how it is distributed? In a compliance program, the largest portion of your consumers/cu...
Introduction To December- Training and Communications
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this month's offering of 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program, you will learn about training and communication techniques that the CCO ca...
Leveraging AI in Compliance Investigations
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The 2020 Update provided clear-cut criteria regarding effective compliance investigations. Sean Freidlin, host of the Compliance Book Club podcast be...
Creating an Inventory of Metrics
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The 2020 Update not only continued to emphasize the importance of monitoring and testing the effectiveness of a compliance program, but it spoke more ...
Consistency as a Compliance Best Practice
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The 2020 Update emphasized the need for the corporate compliance function to ensure both consistency and fairness not only in monitoring investigation...
Compliance at the Table
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Going into the 2020s and beyond, a corporate compliance function needs to be an integral part of your corporate business strategy going forward. One ...
Compliance Innovation Through KPIs
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Measuring the effectiveness of your compliance program will be one of the key criteria going forward. One of the mechanisms to do so is through Key Pe...
Connected Compliance
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Disconnectedness compliance comes from the fact there is not one system which connects the disparate strands of the compliance discipline. In the view...
The Competitive (Compliance) Advantage of Data
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The DOJ and SEC have both made it clear that they expect companies to be more robust in their use of data analytics in compliance programs. This means...
The Compliance Function into the 2020s and Beyond
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday we considered the compliance professional in the 2020s and beyond. Today we look at the Compliance Function. The Coronavirus pandemic has a...
Skills for the Compliance Professional in the 2020s
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What should compliance practitioners do to move themselves forward professionally in the 2020s and beyond? Ton consider this question, I drew inspirat...
Future of Compliance Training
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Where is compliance training headed? In the 2020 Update, the DOJ stated, “companies have invested in shorter, more targeted training sessions to ena...
Communication to see around corners
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The more you can operationalize compliance, the more it works to operationalize culture in your organization. It works for all levels of a company, li...
The ROI of Effective Compliance
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We are now at a place where there is sufficient data, academic research and actual use cases from corporations and businesses that demonstrate good et...
Operationalizing Compliance Through a Digital Transformation
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Through restructuring, senior leadership can signal that digital transformation in compliance is critical for the future of the organization. From thi...
Taming Complexity in Compliance
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the lessons we have learned from various FCPA enforcement actions over the years is how complexity in business organizations can work to defeat...
Originating and Managing a Compliance Ecosystem
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever thought of compliance as an ecosystem? When you consider the concept, it becomes clear that this is one thing every company should striv...
Why Business Ventures are Different than 3rd Parties
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Business ventures, whether JVs, partnerships, franchises, team agreements, strategic alliances or one of the myriad types of business relationships a ...
Distributor Liability Under the FCPA
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Three enforcement actions which made clear that there were no distinctions between agents and distributors. They were the Smith & Nephew, Inc., Oracle...
Following the Money Through Distributors
28 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Polycom came to FCPA grief in China, as have many other US companies. The bribery scheme was long running, occurring from 2006-2014. They included the...
Franchisor Compliance
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Most franchisors have thorough financial vetting requirements before allowing any person or business to become a franchisee. However, how many of thes...
Franchisor liability
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There remains a question about franchisor liability under the FCPA. Franchising has been a successful model in the U.S. and now many corporations are ...
Distributors as business venture partners
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many compliance practitioners generally view distributors as a part of their third-party risk management program, with most of their attention on the ...
Financial review of your business venture partner
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One area not usually considered around your business ventures is the financial health of JV partner, teaming partner, strategic partner or any other t...
The Corp Controller and Business Ventures
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One area not often considered by the CCO as a key part of any compliance regime is the Corporate Controller. The Controller generally has the responsi...
Know Your Customer
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Do FCPA considerations come into play for customers? How should you think about your obligations under the FCPA for a group not traditionally associat...
Tying it all together for JVs
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
I want to emphasize again the risks JVs pose under the FCPA. Mike Volkov has stated, “A joint venture requires the integration of disparate company...
Post-acquisition integration plan
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Your company has just made its largest acquisition ever and your CEO says that he wants you to have a compliance post-acquisition integration plan on ...
Pre-acquisition due diligence
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The compliance component of your M&A regime should begin with a preliminary pre-acquisition assessment of risk. Such an early assessment will inform t...
Pre-acquisition risk assessment
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the clearest themes from the original, 2012 FCPA Resource Guide was around the importance of your pre-acquisition work in any M&A on a target ...
Draft Episode for Oct 13, 2020
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why should a company engage in pre-acquisition due diligence in the M&A context? Certainly, compliance with anti-corruption laws such as the FCPA or U...
Safe Harbor for Successor Liability
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
White collar defense practitioners have long called for a specific safe harbor for companies in the mergers and acquisition context where they meet th...
Auditing Joint Ventures
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
JVs provide many FCPA risks that other types of business relationships do not bring. For instance, the JV may interact with foreign government officia...
Compliance terms and conditions in JV agreements
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Numerous U.S. companies have come to FCPA grief for their overseas JVs and this continues to be a bane for many companies under the FCPA. There are so...
JV Due Diligence
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When you bring two entities together to operate jointly, there are several difficult issues to analyze. For the U.S. company operating under the FCPA,...
JV risks under the FCPA
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Just as the FCPA enforcement field is covered with actions centering around M&A, there are multiple actions involving JVs. JVs continue to plague many...
Opinion Release 14-02: Dis-linking illegal conduct
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of my favorite words in the context of FCPA enforcement is dis-link. It a useful adjective in explaining how certain conduct by a company must be...
Key M&A cases under the FCPA
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are some of the key FCPA enforcement actions involving M&A? These enforcement actions, FCPA Resource Guide and the Evaluation of Corporate Compl...
Introduction to Business Ventures
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We next consider how to create a more effective compliance program involving business ventures. This will include the role of compliance in M&A, JV ag...
Culture as a Foundational Internal Control
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To conclude this month's series on Internal Controls, I am joined by Vin DiCianni, Founder and CEO of AMI. We discuss how corporate culture is a found...
Gap Analysis
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A gap analysis is a method of assessing the differences in performance between a business’ internal controls to determine whether business requireme...
Assessing compliance internal controls under COSO
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Next, consider what COSO says about assessing compliance internal controls. In its Illustrative Guide, COSO laid out its views on “how to assess the...
COSO Objective V: Monitoring Activities
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The fifth and final Objective is Monitoring Activities and as with all other components of the COSO Cube, Monitoring Activities are part of an int...
COSO Objective IV: Information and Communication
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As with the other components of the COSO Cube, the objective of Information and Communication is not to be taken in a vacuum. Indeed, one of the more ...
COSO Objective III: Control Activities
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In its Framework Volume, COSO Control Activities “are the actions established through policies and procedures that help ensure that management’s d...
COSO Objective II: Risk Assessments
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Objective II is designed to provide a company with a dynamic and iterative process for identifying and assessing risks. For the compliance practitione...
COSO Objective I: Control Environment
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The first of the five objectives is control environment and it sets the tone for the implementation and operation of all other components of interna...
What is the COSO 2013 Internal Controls Framework?
18 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
COSO was adopted in 1992 as a framework for basis to design and then test the effectiveness of internal controls. In 2010, it was deemed necessary to ...
Code of Conduct as an internal control
17 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 2016, one of the most interesting non-international focused FCPA enforcement actions was announced by the SEC. It involved a clear quid pro quo b...
Board of Directors’ oversight as an internal control
16 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is a Board of Directors a compliance internal control? The clear answer is yes. In the 2020 FCPA Resource Guide, Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance ...
Internal controls for gifts, travel and entertainment
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It is reasonable to expect that internal controls over gifts, travel and entertainment be designed to ensure that they satisfy the criteria as defined...
Internal controls for third parties
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the questions GSK faced during the bribery and corruption investigation of its Chinese operations was how an allegedly massive bribery and cor...
Implementing internal controls
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Next, I consider some ways in which a compliance professional can work to implement internal controls in a multi-national organization. The first step...
Mapping Internal Controls
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As they made clear with several FCPA enforcement actions in 2020, the SEC has continued to emphasize the accounting provisions of the FCPA, specifical...
Risk assessments and internal controls
09 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Next, I will review how to use the risk assessment you have performed as a tool to provide a structured approach to establishing effective internal co...
Assessing internal controls in international operations
08 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How should you assess your internal controls regime for international operations? It is incumbent that you need to review as much information as you c...
Internal controls in international locations
04 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Next, I want to consider some of the issues around internal controls outside the U.S. and why your company’s internal controls might require changes...
The four key internal controls for compliance
03 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There are four significant controls that I would suggest the compliance practitioner implement initially. They are: 1) DOA; 2) maintenance of the vend...
Discipline and rigor in your internal controls
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
New York Times columnist David Brooks’ thoughts on building and maintaining order inform the discussion on rigor in your internal controls. In inte...
What are internal controls?
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What specifically are internal controls in a compliance program? Internal controls are not only the foundation of a company but are also the foundatio...
Twenty questions directors should ask about its Compliance Committee
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In an area of inquiry entitled Oversight, the 2020 Update asks three basic questions which we have explored throughout this chapter: What complian...
Three areas of Board inquiry
27 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There are three core areas upon which directors should focus their attention regarding to help establish and maintain an effective compliance program:...
Areas of Board inquiry into compliance
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Where does “tone at the top” start? With any public and most private U.S. companies, it is at the Board of Directors. But what is the role of a co...
Incorporating compliance into long-term corporate strategy
25 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How can a Board work to incorporate the compliance function into a long-term business strategy of the organization? A Board can do so by engaging with...
The Board and succession planning for a CCO
24 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The 2020 Update mandated a Board of Directors ensure “the sufficiency of the personnel and resources within the compliance function, in particular, ...
The Board role in hiring
21 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is the role of a Board of Directors in hiring senior executives, CCOs and even other board members? I explored this issue with Candice Tal, who b...
Board of Directors and doing business in China
20 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Trump Administration’s trade war with China has highlighted the risks of both doing business in China and investing the Chinese companies which ...
Board failures in compliance
19 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Next, consider a couple of landmark failures at the Board level around bribery and corruption. VimpelCom Ltd. In 2015 (now Veon Ltd.), the DOJ allege...
Board Metrics for Compliance
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are metrics for a Board of Directors around compliance? Former Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell laid out some that the Department of J...
What leads to a successful Board investigation?
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Once again, referencing the article, “Successful Board Investigations”, David Bayless and Tammy Albarrán, offered seven considerations to facili...
What Is Your Board's Investigation Protocol
14 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many companies have an investigation protocol in place when a potential Foreign Corruption Practices Act (FCPA) or other legal issue arises? However, ...
Board Governance and Risk Oversight
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the ongoing questions from members of Board of Directors is how to resolve the tension between oversight and managing. I recently had the oppor...
The Board as an Internal Control
12 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
James Doty, former Commissioner of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) was once asked if the Board or its sub-committee which handle...
The Board's Role with Internal Controls
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The basic framework for internal controls is derived from the COSO Model developed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commis...
Inquiring up and down
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Where does “tone at the top” start? With any public and most private U.S. companies, it is at the Board of Directors. But what is the role of a co...
OIG Guidance for Boards Regarding Compliance
07 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The OIG white paper “Practical Guidance for Health Care Governing Boards on Compliance Oversight” (OIG Guidance), provides an excellent road map ...
Compliance expertise on the Board
06 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Every Board of Directors need a true compliance expert sitting at the table. Almost every Board has a former CFO, former head of Internal Audit or per...
BOD Compliance Committee
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the Board must exercise reasonable oversight on the effectiveness of a company’s compliance program. The DOJ P...
Prudent discharge of compliance obligations
04 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are the obligations of a Board member regarding the FCPA? Are the obligations of the Compliance Committee under the FCPA at odds with a director’...
Legal requirements of the Board regarding compliance
03 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to this month's offer of 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. This month I will focus on the Board of Directors and its role in an ...
Wrap up of 3rd Party Management and Preview of Boards of Directors
31 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this final episode for the month of July on 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program, I review the past month's offerings and preview the mon...
Use of Data to Manage Third-Parties
29 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 insigh...
Risk ranking in the Supply Chain
28 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 b...
Freight forwarders
27 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The FCPA world is littered with cases involving freight forwarders, brokers and agents in the shipping and express delivery arena. Both the DOJ and SE...
What is your distributor compensation protocol?
24 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the issues in any compliance program is the compensation paid to a third-party as FCPA exposure arises when companies pay money, either directl...
Terminating a third-party
23 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At some point, you will be required to terminate a third-party and there will be multiple legal, compliance and business issues to navigate through. I...
Third-Party Risk Expansion
22 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is third-party risk expansion and why is it a risk in compliance? Historically, people talked about simply an entity outside of your organization...
Third-parties as compliance innovation partners
21 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It is universally recognized that third-parties are your highest FCPA risk. What if you could turn your third-party from a liability under the FCPA to...
Third-party risk management ROI
20 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One area that has bedeviled CCOs and compliance practitioners is how to determine the ROI for your compliance program regarding third-parties. While i...
Ongoing monitoring of third-parties
17 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One of the key themes from the 2020 Update was the use of data and data analytics in a best practices compliance program. This has specific applicatio...
Auditing of third-parties
16 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Auditing of third-parties is critical to any best practices compliance program and an important tool in operationalizing your compliance program. This...
Managing third-parties
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The building blocks of any compliance program lay the foundations for a best practices compliance program. For instance, in the lifecycle management o...
Metrics on third-party management
14 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In a 2015 speech before the SIFMA Compliance and Legal Society New York Regional Seminar, former Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell for the ...
The “how” question in due diligence
13 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is satisfactory due diligence under the FCPA? That question seems to be more important after the story on Unaoil S.A.M. and the subsequent relea...
Compliance Terms and Conditions
10 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The 2020 Resource Guide stated, “In addition to considering a company’s due diligence on third parties, DOJ and SEC also assess whether the compan...
Evaluation of due diligence and clearing red flags
09 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An important part of the job duties of any compliance practitioner is clearing red flags which might appear for a proposed third-party relationship du...