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Solutions - Compliance Effectiveness

Effective Compliance and Ethics Programs

The United States Sentencing Commission voted on April 7, 2010 to modify the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for organizations, including the provisions that set forth the attributes of effective compliance and ethics programs. These amendments are currently scheduled to go into effect on November 1, 2010.

Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, a convicted organization may be eligible for a reduced sentence if it has established an effective compliance and ethics program. The Guidelines describe the key attributes that a compliance program must exhibit for the organization to be eligible to receive benefits such as reduced fines, reduced sentences or deferred prosecution.

Beyond the potential benefits related to prosecution and conviction, the key attributes of effective compliance programs have become widely used as a guideline by organizations seeking to proactively establish effective compliance and ethics programs. Satisfying the requirements for an effective compliance and ethics program is now widely believed to create a number of additional benefits including protection of the corporate brand by reducing the likelihood of bad events taking place and having the ability to minimize the consequences should bad events occur.

The seven elements of effective compliance programs are summarized as follows:

Establish policies, procedures and controls
Exercise effective compliance and ethics oversight
Exercise due diligence to avoid delegation of authority to unethical individuals
Communicate to, and educate employees, on compliance and ethics programs
Monitor and audit compliance and ethics programs for effectiveness
Ensure consistent enforcement and discipline of violations
Respond appropriately to incidents and take steps to prevent future incidents

Download our Whitepaper

To learn more about the seven elements of an effective compliance and ethics program and how Governance, Risk Management and Compliance (GRC) software can serve as the foundation of your compliance and ethics program, please download the whitepaper The Seven Elements of an Effective Compliance and Ethics Program.

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To learn more about compliance software from Compliance 360 or schedule a demonstration please contact us