Successful global compliance programs have several commonalities. One of the chief elements of such formidable programs is a culture of compliance. As mentioned in our previous blog post, a compliance culture is built from the top down, and that starts with your board of directors.
Even beyond your organization’s culture, your board owns the ultimate responsibility for your compliance management, which also includes the framework of your program – from processes and controls to training and software. Because your board is accountable for all of your compliances, it must have transparency into the status of your organization’s compliance at all times.
With so many businesses relying on faulty compliance processes and no streamlined compliance solutions, their boards lack the real-time visibility necessary to support their organizations.
How do you ensure your board has transparency into your compliance management, and what’s necessary for success?
Even without having a day-to-day presence, your board of directors plays a vital role in ensuring the compliance of your organization. Several keys empower these critical stakeholders to have the required impact on your business:
Your board of directors must be comprised of leaders who possess different skillsets and bring varying perspectives to the table. Diverse backgrounds create a comprehensive group that’s better equipped to identify issues and solve problems.
Each director must have a clearly defined role. With the multitude of compliance issues and tasks, defining responsibilities and oversight ensures that no area of compliance is unaccounted for.
Streamline your process management so there is effective communication between your board and management, and in particular your chief compliance officer (CCO).
Create strategic alignment across your organization. Prioritize your goals, focus areas and problems that must be addressed to solidify your global compliance program.
When it comes to compliance and the communication between your board and the rest of the organization, no person is more vital than your chief compliance officer.
Your CCO (or leader of your compliance team) should meet with your board quarterly at a minimum to share any important compliance developments, including regulatory reform that’s impacting your legal entities, internal investigations or acute problems your firm faces.
Without this point person facilitating communication to your board, you can’t ensure your directors’ transparency into your global compliance efforts.
For many corporations, a compliance program is structured to simply cover their basic and fundamental bases. However, the most effective compliance programs are structured to be an organization’s competitive advantage. Such programs require a well-organized board, accomplished compliance leader and strong team, but also an ability to leverage real-time data and streamline reporting.
With the right tools – most importantly, a comprehensive global compliance solution – your compliance team is able to automate processes and conduct detailed analysis on issues and provide your board and management with digestible insight in real time.
Realistically, the most effective solutions empower your directors and executives to easily run their own reports, should they have an immediate need.
With complete transparency into your global compliance program, your board is equipped to provide high-level oversight and direction. And an organization with informed directors is far more capable of building a thorough, effective program that mitigates the risk of noncompliance.
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