The Future of Compliance and Ethics: Trends for the Field into 2026

Topical issues for Compliance and Ethics 

What about collaborative AI, large-language models, etc.? This technology will be put to work by very creative people developing more sophisticated ways of committing crimes. We will need to use AI just to keep up.  

What about the current United States administration? C&E has been below the political level at the U.S. Department of Justice in 2025, and so the incentive system remains quietly in place. But this could vanish overnight if it becomes a political issue. Incentive-based C&E does remain in other countries. As long as it remains below the political/influencer spotlight in the U.S., it will remain. C&E people will need to focus on three reasons for C&E programs: the business case, the legal case and the moral case. But the legal case will be tougher to make in the U.S. in the short run than it has been in the past.  

Senior people will continue to be the prime drivers of misconduct and the highest source of compliance risk. As long as C&E people lack power and any role in incentives/promotions, this will continue unabated. 

More professors and commentators will offer to help us and tell us we are wrong in what we do in C&E. Fortunately, some will have useful insights.  

Government mandates on the details of what should be in C&E programs will continue in hyper-regulated industries like banking and finance. These over-regulated C&E programs will inhibit efforts to make the programs truly effective, and will continue to fail, because they are not based on fundamentals like power, incentives and preventing retaliation.  

Europe will continue to deal with the directive intended to prevent retaliation. Look for continued foot-dragging and circumvention. Government bodies are supposed to have their own anti-retaliation system. Don’t expect to see very much here (I hope I am proven wrong).

Three essential elements for the future

Power: the forbidden topic

We deal with crime and misconduct. These often originate – or are enabled – by those with power at the top of the organization. To counteract power, C&E professionals must also have power. Yet the word “power” rarely appears in our literature or conferences. Instead, we opt for softer terms like “authority,” and are usually reluctant to push.  

Lord Acton famously said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In today’s companies and other organizations, the top leaders come very close to absolute power. This can even be seen in lower levels where managers carve out their own little fiefdoms. If chief ethics and compliance officers (CECO) lack power, and only have a seat at what Nick Gallo calls the “kiddie table” – lacking direct access to the board – they lack the ability to do their job. Without genuine power, a CECO cannot protect whistleblowers, challenge misconduct or ensure ethical behavior at the top. 

Will corporate boards start to recruit CECOs from other companies to join their boards? It would be a spectacularly good idea, but I don’t see it happening. I suspect, though, that this is likely only to change when government drives the change. Will we do better in 2026 in addressing this reality?  My pessimistic answer: no. But it is definitely important to keep trying.  

Incentives: a neglected essential 

Incentives drive behavior. Peter Drucker said it well: people respond to rewards, not preaching. Yet despite its inclusion in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines for over two decades, many C&E programs ignore this critical area. 

Promotions, raises, and recognition all signal what an organization truly values. I heard a professor in South Africa once say that an organization’s real code of conduct is its budget. A CECO who ignores these incentive, reward and promotion systems isn’t doing their job. Who would be dismissive of the CECO, for example, if the CECO actually had a say in who gets promoted? 

Even simple acts – like recognizing ethical behavior or linking performance evaluations to values and active support for the C&E program – can be powerful. But fear, or lack of support, often stops C&E professionals from touching incentive systems. This silence signals weakness and can lead to irrelevance. 

Will this change in 2026?  Very likely, no or very little. I can predict that under the current administration we will not get the strong signals from government that incentives count. Since the field ignored even strong signals in the past, it is highly unlikely it will move in this direction if there are no signals at all.  

There are, however, many ways C&E people could at least start to deal with incentives. The “ Using Incentives in Your Compliance and Ethics Program” guide I wrote for SCCE can help get anyone started on this road. So, while I cannot predict a dramatic shift in direction, 2026 could see some incremental progress in this direction.  

Speaking up to government and lawmakers 

While we wisely avoid lobbying on laws we’re tasked with enforcing, we too often stay silent when legal systems directly undercut our work. Judges, laws, and regulators sometimes ignore or even weaponize our efforts. For example, sloppily written privacy laws create traps for C&E professionals, and compliance work may even be used against companies.  

The U.S. Department of Justice, for all its written guidance, rarely, if ever, acknowledges prior existing C&E programs during actual enforcement actions. If no such program is ever praised – or even mentioned – how can organizations take the effort seriously or learn from the enforcers’ actions? What actual cases can we show to management to prove that the government really takes our C&E programs seriously when it matters? 

We are the ones who fully understand how these legal gaps hurt the public and our profession. Yet we remain silent, lacking a united voice to push back or educate. That is a costly weakness in our profession. 

Will this change in 2026?  I do not see any movement in this direction. But there is always hope that an established C&E organization, or a new and aggressive one, will see the need and step forward.

2026 prediction 

Within 10 years, we will either have risen to meet these challenges or fallen into irrelevance. The window for action is closing fast. But we still have time – if we choose to use it. 

This article is part of our 2026 Top 10 Risk & Compliance Trends eBook. Check out the full eBook for more expert predictions for the year ahead.