Effective Compliance Starts at Home: Ensuring Your Company Learns of Issues Before Everyone Else Does

The need for an effective compliance program to assist companies in preventing, detecting and, if necessary, promptly correcting issues before they become problems is nothing new. However, there is an increased focus by the government designed to induce employees to report suspected unlawful conduct by their employers to regulatory agencies. While this focus may benefit consumers and investors, it also raises the real possibility a company will first learn about an issue after an audit or enforcement action has already been commenced, and control of the situation is largely out of the company’s hands. This new era of external enforcement means that companies must place an even greater emphasis on their internal compliance programs. But where to start?