If you’re in a leadership role at your organization (and in a way, aren’t we all?) I want to direct your eyeballs and a few minutes of your time to a whitepaper I’ve been sharing with my clients lately. Published by PwC, it’s The State of Compliance 2016.
I consider it “required reading” for anyone at or near the top of an organization who is currently attempting a balancing act between establishing a culture of compliance and ethics while also finding time to support the company’s efforts to keep up with all the rules and regs. In other words, that’s everyone.
The gist of the whitepaper is that one can do both, and do both well. And because we all love tactics, the paper gives us some detail on key areas where we can work to improve our processes, starting with asking ourselves five tough questions about where we are now.
My advice? Ask yourself these questions, and then download the whitepaper to help determine your next steps. There might be some “tone at the top” opportunities you’re missing. Maybe a strategic risk assessment is in order. Or, maybe you need to add some talent in your compliance department.
Regardless, give these questions some deep thought:
1. Do you make the delivery of compliance and ethics messages a priority?
2. Are you measured in any way on your commitment to compliance and ethics?
3. Does your organization’s existing risk assessment process capture the current state of compliance and ethics risk management with sufficient detail so as to power your planning and execution of necessary mitigation activities?
4. Does the structure of your organization’s compliance and ethics function truly enable and support key activities to address prioritized risk areas?
5. Do your organization’s Board and senior leadership provide meaningful oversight and support of the compliance and ethics function?
Here’s the link again: 2016 State of Compliance Study. Enjoy the whitepaper. It’s good stuff. Good research, well-presented. I hope you’ll download it and share it with colleagues. Put it under your pillow if you don’t have time to read it tonight – but read it.
Maurice Gilbert is Managing Partner of Conselium Executive Search, which specializes in placing Compliance Officers and Legal Counsel for clients in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Maurice is also CEO of Corporate Compliance Insights, a worldwide publication devoted to governance, risk and compliance issues. Maurice can be reached at maurice@conselium.com
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