31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program

Welcome to a special podcast series on the Compliance Podcast Network, 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. Over these 31 days of the series in January 2025, Tom Fox will post a key part of a best practices compliance program daily. By the end of January, you will have enough information to create, design, or enhance a compliance program. Each podcast will be short, at 6-8 minutes, and will include three key takeaways you can implement at little or no cost to help update your compliance program. I hope you will join us each day in January for this exploration of best practices in compliance.

This episode explores the critical value and construction of a corporate Code of Conduct, explaining its evolution from a legalistic document to a cornerstone of compliance programs. The discussion includes an analysis of the 2016 SEC Enforcement Action against United Airlines, highlighting how violations of the Code of Conduct can lead to severe consequences, including substantial penalties and executive resignations. Key takeaways emphasize that a Code of Conduct should be tailored to a company’s specific culture and industry, must be accessible to all employees, and needs to be regularly updated and documented to ensure its effectiveness. Tune in to learn why a robust Code of Conduct is foundational for any compliance program.

Key highlights:

• Introduction to Code of Conduct
• Regulatory Expectations and Guidelines
• Crafting an Effective Code of Conduct

Resources:

Listeners to this podcast can receive a 20% discount on The Compliance Handbook, 5th edition, by clicking here.

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What is the value of having a Code of Conduct? In its early days, a Code of Conduct tended to be lawyer-written and lawyer-driven to wave in a regulator’s face during an enforcement action as proof of ethical overall behavior. Is such a legalistic code effective? Is a Code of Conduct more than simply your company’s internal law? What should be the goal of the creation of your company’s Code of Conduct?

How important is the Code of Conduct? Consider the 2016 SEC enforcement action involving United Airlines, Inc., which turned on a violation of the company’s Code of Conduct. The breach of the Code of Conduct was determined to be an FCPA internal control violation. It involved a clear quid pro quo benefit paid out by United to David Samson, the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the public government entity that has authority over, among other things, United’s operations at the company’s huge east coast hub in Newark, NJ.

 Three key takeaways:

1. A Code of Conduct is a foundational document in any compliance regime.

2. The substance of your Code of Conduct should be tailored to the company’s culture, to its industry, and to its corporate identity.

3. “Document, Document, and Document” your training and communication efforts regarding your Code of Conduct.

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As with all other components of a best practices compliance program, robust policies and procedures in data governance need to be in place to effectively address privacy concerns. This is even more true with the shift from breach data protection to data privacy as a regulatory focus. This shift is gaining momentum, especially in the EU under GDPR, where data privacy is a significant concern for companies doing business globally.

It is important to have a Master Data Plan in place with acts to provide a centralized and consistent view of data. A Master Data Plan also enables organizations to have a holistic understanding of their data, leading to better decision-making and improved business efficiency. This Master Data Plan will help drive good data governance, which plays a vital role in compliance program visibility and effective data management. A Master Data Plan involves establishing policies, procedures, and controls to ensure data quality, accuracy, consistency, and trustworthiness. Data quality is essential for data to be fit for purpose and used efficiently in business operations and analytics.

Three key takeaways:

1. Companies should implement a Master Data Plan in place to effectively manage data going forward.
2. A Master Data Plan involves establishing policies, procedures, and controls to ensure data quality, accuracy, consistency, and trustworthiness
3. By embracing data-driven practices and addressing privacy concerns, businesses can enhance compliance programs, drive efficiency, and achieve better ROI.

For more information on KonaAI click here. 

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Welcome to a special podcast series on the Compliance Podcast Network, 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. Over these 31 days of the series in January 2025, Tom Fox will post a key part of the best practices compliance program daily. By the end of January, you will have enough information to create, design, or enhance a compliance program. Each podcast will be short, at 6-8 minutes, and will include three key takeaways you can implement at little or no cost to help update your compliance program. I hope you will join us each day in January for this exploration of best practices in compliance.

In this episode, Tom Fox discusses the importance of embedding a culture of compliance throughout all levels of an organization. Mike Volkov emphasizes that having senior management committed to compliance is not enough; the culture must permeate middle and lower management for a program to be effective. The 2024 ECCP underscores the necessity for ethical values to be embedded throughout the company’s hierarchy. This involves senior and middle management actively demonstrating their commitment to compliance, even in the face of competing business interests. Middle management plays a critical role, as they are the primary interface between most employees and upper management. The script highlights practical steps such as assembling compliance focus groups, training managers in effective listening, and ensuring organizational justice to operationalize a compliance program effectively. We also consider how to assess the real-world application of compliance measures within the company and the need for consistent and fair disciplinary actions across different regions and business units to reinforce a culture of compliance.

Key highlights:

• Embedding Compliance Culture
• Role of Middle Management
• Tone at the Bottom

Resources:

Listeners to this podcast can receive a 20% discount on The Compliance Handbook, 5th edition, by clicking here.

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The 2023 ECCP made clear a company must have more than simply good ‘Tone-at-the-Top’; it must move down through the organization from senior management to middle management and into its lower ranks. It stated, “Beyond compliance structures, policies, and procedures, it is important for a company to create and foster a culture of ethics and compliance with the law at all levels of the company. The effectiveness of a compliance program requires a high-level commitment by company leadership to implement a culture of compliance from the middle and the top.”

Employees often look to their direct supervisor to determine what the tone of an organization is and will be going forward. Many employees of large, multi-national organizations may never have direct contact with the CEO or even senior management. By moving the values of compliance through an organization into the middle, you will be in a much better position to inculcate these values and operationalizing compliance with them.

 Three key takeaways:

1. Tone at the top—direct supervisors become the most important influence on people in the company

2. Give your middle managers a Tool Kit around compliance so they can fully operationalize compliance

3. Organizational justice is an additional way to help operationalize compliance

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In today’s digital landscape, compliance, data governance, and cybersecurity have become crucial aspects of running a successful business. The convergence of these three disciplines is a growing trend, emphasizing the need for collaboration and breaking down silos within organizations. The key factor that impacts the importance of compliance, data governance, and cybersecurity in business is data governance.

Data governance involves managing and organizing data for accuracy, accessibility, and compliance. With the increasing amount of data being generated for compliance and other corporate functions, it has become crucial for organizations to have effective data governance and legal technology services in place to ensure compliance with regulatory obligations. It plays a significant role in both the business and legal aspects of an organization. CCOs and compliance professionals rely on data to make informed decisions, analyze trends, and measure key performance indicators. From a legal perspective, data governance is essential for providing legal advice and meeting regulatory obligations.

 Three key takeaways:

1. Data preservation and credibility are crucial for effective compliance representation if a regulator comes knocking.

2. Compliance, data governance, and cybersecurity are intertwined in today’s business landscape.

3. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, organizations must prioritize data governance and stay compliant and competitive in the business world.

For more information on KonaAI, click here.

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Welcome to a special podcast series on the Compliance Podcast Network, 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. Over these 31 days of the series in January 2025, Tom Fox will post a key part of a best practices compliance program daily. By the end of January, you will have enough information to create, design, or enhance a compliance program. Each podcast will be short, at 6-8 minutes, and will include three key takeaways you can implement at little or no cost to help update your compliance program. I hope you will join us each day in January for this exploration of best practices in compliance.

In today’s episode, we dive into the critical role of senior management in fostering a strong corporate culture of compliance, as highlighted by the 2022 Monaco Memo and the 2020 FCPA Resource Guide, 2nd edition. Emphasizing that corporate culture is vital to a company’s success, we discuss how the DOJ assesses ethical cultures and the importance of senior management’s active participation in compliance efforts. The episode outlines five key factors to guide senior leadership in setting, modeling, and monitoring the right tone at the top. These include clear communication of values, personal commitment to those values, supportive systems, integration into decision-making, and empowering managers to make ethically sound decisions. We conclude with three takeaways: senior management must engage in compliance, the DOJ evaluates corporate culture during investigations, and CEOs should be seen as chief compliance ambassadors.

Key highlights:

• The Importance of Corporate Culture
• DOJ’s Expectations for Senior Management
• Five Factors for Effective Leadership

Resources

Listeners to this podcast can receive a 20% discount on The Compliance Handbook, 5th edition, by clicking here.

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The 2022 Monaco Memo emphasized the basic point that the key to every company is culture. The bottom line is that corporate culture matters, and corporate culture that fails to hold individuals accountable or fails to invest in compliance—or worse, that thumbs its nose at compliance—leads to bad results.

To assist companies in understanding this requirement, the 2023 ECCP sets out inquiries demonstrating that DOJ requirements are more than simply the ubiquitous “tone-at-the-top,” as they focus on the conduct of senior management. The DOJ wants to see a company’s senior leadership actually doing compliance. The DOJ asks if company leadership has, through their words and concrete actions, brought the right message of doing business ethically and in compliance to the organization. How does senior management model its behavior based on a company’s values and finally, how is such conduct monitored in an organization?

 Three key takeaways:

1. Senior management must actually do compliance—not simply talk the talk of compliance but also walk the walk.

2. The DOJ is now actively assessing corporate culture during investigations.

3. Your CEO is a Compliance Ambassador.

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 What is the impact of privacy regulations on data-driven compliance? Every CCO must be aware of the importance of privacy in data-driven compliance and the challenges and tradeoffs involved in implementing effective compliance strategies. A key mandate is for CCOs and compliance professionals to have a compliance program that provides visibility into their data. This emphasizes the importance of having efficient and effective compliance solutions in place or as I have previously noted CCOs must have access to their compliance data literally at their fingertips.

This is one of the drivers for key trends shaping compliance technology in 2025 and beyond. The RegTech market is growing rapidly, and there is increased regulatory focus on cryptocurrency activities, ESG, and information security and cybersecurity. These trends indicate the evolving landscape of compliance and the need for organizations to stay updated and adapt their compliance strategies accordingly. By embracing connected compliance and leveraging technology, organizations can navigate the complex regulatory landscape and ensure compliance with privacy regulations while driving business efficiency.

 Three key takeaways:

2. CCOs and compliance professionals must have a compliance program that provides visibility into their data.
4. ESG regulations affect not only regulated industries but also any company holding private customer data or involved in large supply chains.
6. By embracing connected compliance and leveraging technology, organizations can navigate the complex regulatory landscape and ensure compliance with privacy regulations while driving business efficiency.

For more on KonaAI, click here. 

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Welcome to a special podcast series on the Compliance Podcast Network, 31 Days to a More Effective Compliance Program. Over these 31 days of the series in January 2025, Tom Fox will post a key part of a best practices compliance program daily. By the end of January, you will have enough information to create, design, or enhance a compliance program. Each podcast will be short, at 6-8 minutes, and will include three key takeaways you can implement at little or no cost to help update your compliance program. I hope you will join us each day in January for this exploration of best practices in compliance.

Continuous monitoring and improvement are essential in developing effective compliance programs, serving as a dynamic approach to addressing and adapting to evolving risks. This underscores the critical nature of these concepts, particularly highlighted in the 2023 update to evaluating corporate compliance programs, and emphasizes the necessity for organizations to integrate real-time data and maintain comprehensive documentation in their decision-making processes. This approach ensures compliance and fosters agility and resilience in navigating the complexities of modern business landscapes.

Key highlights:

• Understanding Changes in Company Risks
• Continuous Monitoring and Improvement
• External Information Sources for Compliance

Resources:

Listeners to this podcast can receive a 20% discount on The Compliance Handbook, 5th edition, by clicking here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices