JM - Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics

Compliance and Ethics Hotlines... continued from page 11one under Sarbanes-Oxley, thenprotocols will be needed for routingto the audit committee andresponding to the issue. Such issuescan be further coded by prioritylevel (e.g., high, medium, low),based on established guidelines andcriteria, which would dictate theaction to be taken. Criteria caninclude the role and influence ofthe individual allegedly involved,and the potential materiality of thematter to financial reporting. Forexample, issues deemed high riskinvolving a senior executive wouldrequire immediate attention withnotification provided to an auditcommittee member within 24-hours,and possibly require involvementby outside counsel.Anonymity and ConfidentialityIt should be noted that anonymityand confidentiality are related butdistinct issues. Both pertain to concernsthat a whistleblower may faceretaliation for reporting suspectedmisconduct. An employee utilizing areporting mechanism may choose tobe anonymous and those involvedin the investigation should not beaware of the person's identity. Evenif a caller chooses to identify himselfor herself, there is still anexpectation that confidentiality withrespect to the individual and theinvestigation will be kept. Thismeans, that the investigation andthe key facts (including identity, ifknown) will be kept in strict confidenceand made aware to onlythose who need to know, due totheir involvement in the investigation.An organization cannot, in goodfaith, guarantee total confidentiality.Generally a caveat is provided to aperson contemplating a disclosureof wrongdoing, that the identity of areporting individual may becomepublic due to circumstances beyondthe control of the organization. Forinstance, there may be litigation andother legal demands that mayrequire an organization to providecritical facts of the matter, includingthe identity of the person (ifknown) reporting the issue. Further,despite controls and protections inplace, mishaps can still occur andthere is the potential speculationand gossip that can occur during aninvestigation, especially followinginterviews of individuals.Communicating the ProceduresLike any new initiative, a hotlinewill fail if it is not launched effectively.A comprehensive communicationsand implementation planwill be needed and an importantconsideration is to promote awarenessthrough formal training as partof a company's ethics and complianceprogram.It is implicit that companies broadlydisseminate the procedures, or atleast the portions of the proceduresthat describe how to submit complaints.The logical places for suchdissemination would be the company'scorporate website and employeeIntranet. For companies withoutwebsites or Intranets, or with alarge percentage of employees withlimited access to computers, it maybe necessary to post the proceduresin company common areas.Companies should incorporate theprocedures into their employeemanuals, and consider distributingFebruary 200512Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics • (888) 277-4977 • www.corporatecompliance.org