Compliance
The pre-requisites to a sound compliance program is communication to all employees, agents and third-parties of management’s commitment to compliance with all U.S. and foreign laws and the effective training of personnel and any other persons who may act for the company in what those laws require.
An effective compliance program prevents risky conduct through training and implementation of controls, but it also seeks to actively identify inappropriate or risky conduct and “flag it” for discovery. This conduct can implicate your company in a crime where a government agency is a victim (government procurement fraud), but it also may conduct where your company is the sole victim (embezzlement).
Compliance programs have to be customized, comprehensive and realistic. We work with your organization so that all employees are prepared to comply with U.S. and foreign laws.
If a compliance program is deemed to be a “paper program” by enforcement agencies, your attorney will find it very difficult to convince those agencies that your company should be dealt with leniently.
Timing is an important component of many mandatory and voluntary disclosure programs and the earlier a company can “discover” a problem, the better. Early discovery allows disclosure to enforcement agencies, if warranted, and more effective mitigation actions. At least one U.S. government agency, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice, maintains a “Corporate Leniency Program” that provides the lion share of benefits (essentially immunity) to the first company in an industry that makes a disclosure. Other, non-U.S. cartel enforcement agencies offer similar programs.
The PerfectShield™ system provides a “redundant complex risk prevention array” for clients that is affordable and provides automated support for a company’s compliance.