11/16/2009 12:47:04 PM EST
Corporate Compliance Practice Guide Excerpt: Strategy for Creating an Effective Compliance Program
The CEO/President of the corporation should provide leadership for the compliance program. This includes launching the compliance program with the message from the CEO/President. This leadership at the top sets the tone for the compliance program and is an essential element of creating a culture of compliance within the corporation.
Further, top management must ensure the effectiveness of the compliance office by providing necessary personnel and funding. Top management should take a leadership role in fostering the compliance program by supporting the program in their daily activities.
Finally, ''specific high-level personnel,'' which usually consists of the compliance officers in the compliance office, should be designated with the responsibility for the day-to-day operation of the compliance program. The chief compliance officer is critical to the success of the compliance program. For the compliance effort to succeed, the chief compliance officer should be afforded access to the CEO/President and the Board of Directors, as well as sufficient funding and staff. A chief compliance officer should be appointed to coordinate the activities of individual compliance ''officers'' at subsidiaries. Finally, it is vital that the chief compliance officer and all other compliance officers be known for their integrity and high ethical standards.
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The Corporate Compliance Practice Guide: The Next Generation, which is the source of the above commentary, is a thorough and cutting edge reference work written and compiled by General Editor Carole Basri and featuring over 100 expert contributors: practitioners, compliance professionals, and scholars. It is a reasonably priced desk manual that is available at the LexisNexis Store and should be at the fingertips of every individual working in the corporate compliance field. The Guide is the first resource of its kind to address the new era of compliance issues and expectations triggered by the global financial crisis, and it presents essential practice tips and guidance in a well-ordered and intuitive manner.