No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE | NO FEES, NO PAYWALLS
MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION
NEWSLETTER
Corporate Compliance Insights
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe
Jump to a Section
  • At the Office
    • Ethics
    • HR Compliance
    • Leadership & Career
    • Well-Being at Work
  • Compliance & Risk
    • Compliance
    • FCPA
    • Fraud
    • Risk
  • Finserv & Audit
    • Financial Services
    • Internal Audit
  • Governance
    • ESG
    • Getting Governance Right
  • Infosec
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
  • Opinion
    • Adam Balfour
    • Jim DeLoach
    • Mary Shirley
    • Yan Tougas
No Result
View All Result
Corporate Compliance Insights
Home FCPA

Using External Resources to Bolster Compliance Programs

Compliance Strategies Under the Benczkowski Memo and New DOJ 2018 Policy Announcements, Part 3

by Jay Rosen
January 29, 2020
in FCPA, Featured
concept of improvement, illustration of business team lifting red arrow into climbing position

Jay Rosen continues looking at the DOJ announcements over the past several years, as well as the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy, announced in November 2017, to consider how companies can use this information externally to bolster their compliance programs.

There are several areas from the DOJ guidance that make the use of external resources more impactful for a corporate compliance program. Let’s consider what a company might do if it is required to self-report a violation of a law such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). It might begin by bringing in a crisis management team to look at the board, board governance, management functions or very specific programs. Another area that is ripe for an external review is the company’s sales cycle, particularly if it uses third parties. Third parties are still recognized as one of the highest risks under the FCPA and in 2018, 93 percent of all enforcement actions involved third parties.

Such an external investigation can include some of the basics, like adequate due diligence and fulfilling internal requirements; by using an external subject matter expert, a company can really drill down into a program to look at subcontractors and other second-, third- and fourth-level contractors. Using an external resource in these areas can help a company based upon the roadmap laid out in the Benczkowski Memo.

Another area where an external resource in compliance can be most helpful is in establishing credibility with regulators. An external resource may deal with the regulators on a variety of matters and may have a well of credibility – a level of rapport with the DOJ that a company that is never or seldom in front of the DOJ may not have going into the process.

Regulators may also see the external resource as bringing another set of eyes to a matter for review.

Once you start coordinating with a government agency and you voluntarily decide to report something, you may be waiving the attorney-client privilege. Under this new guidance, you may have to cooperate fully and identify names and individuals within the company.

Moreover, your organization will more than likely have to produce documents. Not only is document security a key issue with regulators, but the same can be said for the current situation that many companies now find themselves in with multi-jurisdictional investigations. This can also hold true if there are multiple agencies involved, each of which with their own legal or regulatory focus. An external recourse can be invaluable in getting an organization through these issues. All of these situations might well lead to multiple settlements with multiple regulators. Navigating through all of this may be beyond the ability of many U.S. companies.

Another area that was certainly emphasized by the DOJ in 2018 was the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) front, particularly in the pre-acquisition phase. In July 2018, the DOJ formalized the Safe Harbor provision first articulated in 2012 FCPA Guidance around companies that performed an appropriate level of pre-acquisition due diligence and then engaged in post-acquisition integration, a forensic FCPA review, self-disclosure and remediation if required. This informal Safe Harbor is now written into the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy.

The DOJ wants you to show you knew not only what you were acquiring from the commercial perspective, but also from the compliance side.

You need to look at whether or not the company has a variety of compliance program indicia: Does it have a compliance program? Does it have a hotline program? Are there complaints to the hotline? Are there things that are percolating below the surface that you are not going to see in just looking at dollars? Does it have good compliance controls?

Beyond this, the DOJ will be looking at your integration plan based upon your pre-acquisition due diligence. Finally, have you fully implemented the acquired entity into your company?

Please join me next week for part four, when I explore how companies can use their compliance programs as both a sword and shield.

 


In case you missed the earlier installments of this ongoing series, please see the links below.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Monitors But Were Afraid to Ask

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

Potential Issues in Corporate Monitorships

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

Suspension and Debarment in Monitoring

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

Monitoring in the Health Care Sector

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

The Basics of Corporate Culture

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

Monitoring in an M&A Context

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

Affiliated Monitors: 15 Years of Independent Monitoring Excellence

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

Compliance Strategies Under the Benczkowski Memo and New DOJ 2018 Policy Announcements

Part 1, Part 2


Tags: DOJFCPA Enforcement Actions
Previous Post

The Importance of Sponsorship for the Compliance Professional

Next Post

What I Wish I’d Known Before Joining Compliance

Jay Rosen

Jay Rosen

Jay Rosen is Vice President, Business Development and Monitoring Specialist at Affiliated Monitors, Inc., the first company in the U.S. to focus on providing independent integrity monitoring and assessment services across a wide range of regulated industries and professions. Jay previously headed up Merrill Brink’s FCPA Investigations and Ethics and Compliance translation group. He has over eight years of experience assisting clients on cross-border investigations, as well as helping them localize their code of conduct and other mission-critical English documents for their global colleagues. For almost three years, Jay has co-hosted the #1 weekly FCPA podcast, “This Week in FCPA,” with Tom Fox. Tom and Jay recently launched a second podcast, “Popcorn and Compliance,” and Jay is also a commentator on the biweekly podcast, “Everything Compliance,” with Jonathan Armstrong, Tom Fox, Sarah Hadden, Matt Kelly and Mike Volkov.

Related Posts

doj distorted

FCPA Enforcement Back on at DOJ — With a New Look

by Jennifer L. Gaskin
June 18, 2025

After a shorter-than-expected pause, officials with the DOJ have formally renewed the department’s enforcement of the FCPA. CCI’s Jennifer L....

doj exterior sign

How to Use the DOJ’s ECCP to Build (or Fix) Your Compliance Program

by Susan Divers
June 5, 2025

Corporate compliance programs face increasing scrutiny as the DOJ applies its evaluation framework across industries and company sizes, from multinational...

doj sign front

Assessing the Business Risks of the Trump Administration’s ‘Total Elimination’ Strategy

by José Cortina and Jennifer Christian
May 20, 2025

As cartels increasingly participate in mainstream economic activities, traditional due diligence practices become inadequate to address new material support risks

doj sign and sculpture

DOJ’s New CEP Proposes Guaranteed Declination for Some Self-Reporters

by Jennifer L. Gaskin
May 13, 2025

The Trump Administration continues reshaping its approach to corporate crime, with the DOJ issuing major revisions of its corporate enforcement...

Next Post
What I Wish I’d Known Before Joining Compliance

What I Wish I’d Known Before Joining Compliance

No Result
View All Result

Privacy Policy | AI Policy

Founded in 2010, CCI is the web’s premier global independent news source for compliance, ethics, risk and information security. 

Got a news tip? Get in touch. Want a weekly round-up in your inbox? Sign up for free. No subscription fees, no paywalls. 

Follow Us

Browse Topics:

  • CCI Press
  • Compliance
  • Compliance Podcasts
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Privacy
  • eBooks Published by CCI
  • Ethics
  • FCPA
  • Featured
  • Financial Services
  • Fraud
  • Governance
  • GRC Vendor News
  • HR Compliance
  • Internal Audit
  • Leadership and Career
  • On Demand Webinars
  • Opinion
  • Research
  • Resource Library
  • Risk
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Well-Being
  • Whitepapers

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights

Welcome to CCI. This site uses cookies. Please click OK to accept. Privacy Policy
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights