Ran across a couple of interesting articles today. For your afternoon education and insight:
The Wrong Action for the Right Reasons?
“I’ve been writing about corporate compliance for a long time, and like most executives who use Compliance Week, I’ve become comfortable using the abstract terms we all do when talking about the idea of “compliance.” But two incidents in the news recently remind me that for all our theoretical understanding of how compliance should work, we have to work within the confines of human nature—and ignore them at our peril.
Twice in the last month, workers at retail-oriented companies have foiled thieves trying to steal goods, and been fired for it. First, a teller at a Key Bank branch in Seattle chased a man who tried to rob the bank, and then held him in submission until police arrived. Several weeks later, a shop-lifter at a Best Buy in Broomfield, Colo., ran off with some electronics; two clerks ran after him and tackled him in the parking lot. All three men showed impressive bravery. They also violated company policy about handling thieves, and are now on the unemployment line.
This should be a compliance officer’s nightmare. If it isn’t—if you see those terminations as black-and-white decisions, easy to make—you’re not doing your job thoughtfully.”
>>>read the above article from Matt Kelly at Compliance Week in its entirety.
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Effective Corporate Compliance Programs
“We are living in an era of increased regulation and renewed enforcement efforts, especially for public companies as well as private companies in industries associated with the 2008 meltdown. Governmental regulation and enforcement is typically reactionary in nature rather than proactive. Could you imagine where we would be today if the mortgage origination industry and mortgage-backed securities had been regulated this decade? Obviously there are costs associated with regulatory compliance and I am not suggesting that everything needs to be regulated to a high degree. What I am suggesting is that it is in every organization’s best interest to take seriously the need for a robust corporate compliance program.
The benefits of a strong program go well beyond regulatory and legal compliance to also include operational benefits. A well-balanced corporate compliance program will help ensure that a company’s organizational structure, people, processes and technology are working in harmony to manage risks, keep customers happy, grow the business, oversee vendors, and achieve numerous other goals. Perhaps many of the recent company disasters could have been diverted with a robust program. It is always easier to look back on history and play “arm-chair-quarterback”, but the beauty of a strong program is that it is proactive to divert failures and realize success. This article identifies several elements of successful corporate compliance programs, but first let’s define a program and look at compliance within the realm of the bigger governance, risk and compliance (GRC) picture.”
>>>read the above article by Ron Kral of Candela Solutions in its entirety at WiseTechnology.com.
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