Compliance &Ethics - Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics

sTakeawaysMay/June 2013Compliance & EthicsProfessionalTear out this page and keep for reference, or share with a colleague. Visit www.corporatecompliance.org for more information.Seven strategies for preventingusers from hoarding documentsMark Diamond (page 25)»»Employee hoarding of electronic documents isan information governance change managementproblem.»»Aggressive deletion often drives undergroundarchiving, making the problem worse.»»Addressing underground archiving requires across-functional approach engaging policies,processes, tools, and technologies.»»Effective approaches create a “win” for employeesby understanding the reasons for their behaviors.»»Ongoing auditing is critical to assess programeffectiveness.You’ve identified a corporate risk—what next?C. J. Rathbun (page 33)»»The company’s choices in response to anidentified risk will depend on its risk tolerance.»»The CCO’s considerations should include howmitigating the risk will affect everyone from theboard room to the mailroom.»»The CCO’s report should be carefully designed forits target audience.»»Internal procedures may need to be changed toprevent future risks.»»Proactive monitoring and/or auditing will help youcatch problems before they become issues.Mind the gap! Where corporatepolicy and social media meetSteve Carr (page 41)»»Social media offers opportunities for broader,timely communication in a fashion peopleappreciate more than static PDF or email formats.»»The gap between liability concerns and potentialbenefits of adopting social media can often bebridged with policy and company-wide planning.»»New online tools to manage and archivesocial media, emails, and other electroniccommunications are widely available andinexpensive.»»Each organization should view social mediain its regulatory context, including Reg FD forpublicly held US companies, the Dodd-Frank Act,Sarbanes Oxley, Solvency II, and Basel III.»»Properly adopted, social media offers theopportunity to improve compliance and corporategovernance practices and even maintain or reducecosts.Political activity compliance:A complex but necessary subjectfor compliance professionalsScott Stetson (page 47)»»Corporations have substantial politicalinvolvement, which may entangle gift and conflictof interest policies.»»Compliance requirements are continually changingwith the passage of new legislation at local, state,and federal levels.»»The Government Affairs department and generalcounsel cannot do it alone.»»Non-compliance has serious organizationalimplications.»»Political compliance should be included in anorganization’s compliance plan.Powerful witness preparation:Don’t volunteerDan Small and Robert F. Roach (page 52)»»Free-flowing conversations move through a seriesof connections to seemingly unrelated topics.»»Testimony should stick to the question at handand stay on a narrow path.»»The questioner’s job is to ask clear questions, notlead the witness into volunteering information thatis inadmissible, irrelevant, or just off track.»»Don’t fill the silence—use it to prepare for whatlies ahead.»»Volunteer information only if it will clear up amisunderstanding or emphasize a key theme.You can’t cure symptomsFrank J. Navran (page 55)»»Finding the underlying problem first may avert acatastrophe later.»»Diagnostic interviews, focus groups, andsurveys will help you uncover the root cause oforganizational problems.»»Build a rapport and an atmosphere of trust beforeyou start asking the tough questions.»»A document review will give you insights intowhat employees learn about the formally statedstandards for employee conduct.»»Skills, knowledge, and conceptual models canonly take us so far in solving the organizationalproblems we face.Ethics in the workplace: TheDominican Republic perspectiveLaura Serra Nova (page 66)»»In addition to the concerns and conflicts thatarise during the hiring process, companies mayoverlook compliance management.»»Current laws in the Dominican Republic allowcompanies to establish internal manuals andprocedures, as well as codes of ethics.»»Procedural justice has played an important rolein establishing ethical standards, however, theperception required to implement such standardsneeds to be shifted in the right direction.»»State must set an example in order to mitigate the“produce-at-all-cost” mentality in the country.»»Great efforts have been made by the public and privatesector to have an ethical business environment.An invitation to connect: The FFIECembraces social media regulationCris Mattoon (page 69)»»Social media usage requires corporategovernance.»»Enterprise risk management must encompasssocial media risks.»»Federal regulators will expect organizations toactively manage social media risks.»»Compliance officers can leverage current federalaction to enhance governance.»»Failure to proactively address social media mayimpact future safety and soundness ratings.Conflict of interest: It’s not so badif I don’t get any benefit out of it.Right?Peter Fazio (page 71)»»Familial relationships among employees cancreate real conflicts of interest.»»Conflicts of interest related to employeeinteractions have a tangible cost to theorganization.»»Conflict of interest risk management should beaddressed as a component of the organization’soverall anti-fraud program.»»Disclosure of conflicts of interest to a higher leveltends to increase the trust of the discloser withoutthe intended increase in the level of professionalskepticism for the integrity of the transaction.»»The real challenge with conflicts of interest is themanner in which we react to them or ignore theirimpact on the integrity of our work.Gray areas: When ethics problemsare not exactly black or whiteFrank C. Bucaro (page 74)»»Not all ethics problems fit neatly into a black-orwhitecategory; some problems fall into a “grayarea.”»»Gray area issues can provide an opportunity todeal proactively, before issues becomes a fullblownethics problems.»»Gray area issues can help point the way to gaps inethics education or training.»»Ethics resources for employees must be known,accessible, and consistently communicated to beeffective.»»Gray area issues may not be right vs. wrongsituations, but could possibly be a right vs. rightsituation, or even right vs. “more” right.Compliance & Ethics Professional May/June 2013+1 952 933 4977 or 888 277 4977 www.corporatecompliance.org 77