When Shareholders Ask How You're Managing Corporate Governance, How Will You Answer? | Compli.com

When Shareholders Ask How You're Managing Corporate Governance, How Will You Answer?

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Article: When Shareholders Ask How You're Managing Corporate Governance, How Will You Answer?

Article Date: Monday, November 18, 2002

Article Source: Compli

Compli_Corp_Trends_11.02.pdf

When Shareholders Ask How You're Managing Corporate Governance, How Will You Answer?

Compli Corporate Trends

Since the wave of corporate scandals erupted last year, a “perfect storm” of corporate governance issues has hit American companies: loss of investor confidence, shareholder lawsuits, strict new legislation, and astronomical liability insurance rates.

All companies are now under pressure to remake their corporate cultures to be more transparent and responsive to their stakeholders…or risk severe financial penalties and even crippling personal liability.

It can seem like a massive task to restructure company policies and make sure they are disseminated, understood, and monitored throughout the enterprise. Compliance management systems put a reliable process in place to help ensure that corporations are compliant with new regulations.

THE IMPACT OF SARBANES-OXLEY

Broad new legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act not only requires companies to overhaul their policies relating to the collection and disclosure of financial information, but also impacts an organization’s operational structure and functions.

The Act contains important provisions that directly affect all employees in a company. Employees now have increased whistle-blower protection, and companies must set up procedures for employees to report fraudulent activities anonymously. While company officers are ultimately responsible for maintaining internal controls to ensure the integrity
of their processes and data, the new legislation impacts and empowers all employees.

The primary governance issue faced by companies today is how to continue to run daily operations effectively while meeting the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations that continue to be announced. Companies need a compliance management system that is comprehensive and flexible enough to respond quickly.

THE STANDARD IN COMPLIANCE SOLUTIONS: COMPLÍ

Complí’s Employment Practices Compliance System (EPCS) provides a flexible framework to manage on-going policy changes and help ensure timely employee compliance.

Complí developed the first integrated enterprise-wide compliance system with real-time monitoring, providing a framework for flexible control of any kind of regulatory requirement. Complí’s compliance experts know that a good compliance system reduces exposure to risk by minimizing unpredictably.

COMPLÍ’S EPCS DOES THIS IN FOUR WAYS:

1. ORIENTATION
Complí’s document database gets employees throughout the organization up to speed quickly on all federal, state, and company policies relevant to their jobs. Complí makes sure that the right people are getting the right information at the right time. For example, employees are introduced to the company’s Code of Conduct and clearly understand how to anonymously report fraudulent activity using the system. Supervisors have access to company guidelines for strict regulations such as those that cover insider trading and document retention.

2. TRAINING
Compli assesses an employee’s understanding of company policies through comprehension tests, and the results are monitored by the employee’s supervisor and HR. Employees, and even upper management, can be tested on their knowledge of specific procedures regarding non-retaliation against whistleblowers, or financial disclosure such as the proper filing of Form 8-K.

3. DOCUMENTATION
Complí tracks and stores all employee interaction with the EPCS with a time and date stamp, providing a verifiable record of an employee’s understanding of key processes. Proper documentation reduces the risk of lawsuits, and provides essential evidence of transparency to help avoid steep penalties if misconduct occurs in the future.

4. REPORTING
Compli’s real-time reporting allows company officers to monitor compliance activity and quickly assess strengths and weaknesses by department, location, or any other parameter. Reporting and documentation provide evidence of internal controls that can be used to satisfy shareholders, auditors, juries, and insurance companies.

ENTERPRISE-WIDE COMPLIANCE
Compliance is a process, not a document. More importantly, it is a process that can be managed easily and reliably by using a comprehensive compliance management system to ensure that every employee is following company policies.

Complí’s EPCS gives companies a better way to effectively manage their governance issues… and create a culture of accountability and mutual trust.