Risk & Compliance Matters

Many companies struggle with developing board risk reports that deliver actionable information in an easy-to-digest way. Here are five general tips for building effective board risk reports that help ensure enterprise risk management (ERM) is seen as a tool for securing the company’s success.

Whether filed via email or through an online reporting and case management system, fictitious reports can pose a heightened IT security threat. Here are four recommended steps to take if you receive a suspected hoax report through your case management system.

Research shows that the majority of employee whistleblowers report internally before reporting to regulators or the media. Here are five whistleblower best practices to ensure that once ethics and compliance teams receive an internal report, they are properly managing reporters to ensure issues are able to be addressed and resolved internally.

Knowing your customer is vital for any business endeavor. Successful businesses, however, understand what their customers want and are making them part of the innovation process.

With the new EU Whistleblower Protection Directive looming large, building employee trust will be crucial to successful reporting programs. To build a strong program and “speak-up” culture, you’ll need these three pillars of trust: awareness, confidence and responsiveness.

The EU has introduced new legislation to ensure that importers of certain materials originating from conflict-affected and high-risk areas source them responsibly by laying down supply chain due diligence obligations.

Germany’s “Law to Strengthen Business Integrity” regulates the criminal liability of companies under German law for the first time. The role of compliance management systems will prove crucial. Learn what the law is, what it means for affected companies, and what actions they should be taking now.

A risk-based approach is not new: Identify the greatest risks to your organization and prioritize the related controls, policies, and procedures. This is familiar territory for risk managers, but it may not be for compliance professionals. So, what does this phrase really mean in practice and how can compliance officers conduct risk assessments to identify, quantify and respond to risk?

Planning for disruption has never been more important. To start creating a business continuity plan, you’ll need a risk assessment, business impact analysis, business continuity plan, and ongoing testing and communication.

If the business operations people are responsible for managing the risk, what does compliance do? How should compliance officers monitor and guide that risk management happening in the operations?

Diversity and inclusion. It’s a phrase we hear a lot these days in the media, private conversations, and of course in the workplace. Usually these two words are treated as a single concept, with most of the attention given to the former. But by narrowly focusing on diversity — and neglecting inclusion — companies too often miss the opportunity to embrace differences.

Codes of conduct have been an element of effective ethics and compliance programs since the first programs were created in the late 1980s. Unfortunately, the structure, format, and design of codes for institutions of higher education have not kept pace with best practices. It’s time for colleges and universities to catch up.