Innovation In Compliance With Tom Fox

On today’s show, Tom chats with Kristy Grant-Hart, CEO of Spark Compliance Consulting. She and her team have developed a Spark Score Report, a tool to help you discover how your compliance program looks to the outside world. Kristy and Tom discuss the Spark Score report, what it means for your business and the industry, and how you can find out if your presence shows how truly committed your company is to compliance.What is the Spark Score Report? Is there a gap between how good your program is internally, and how it’s perceived externally? The Spark Score is a free report that gives you insights into just that. It’s a benchmarking tool that tells you what customers and outsiders see.Many underestimate just how important this information is. The public is looking at what you put out there. They’re searching for your presence — and this innovation solves this business need.This report that can be taken back to your company (e.g. your C-suite or managers) to help evaluate how your company is doing vis-à-vi

How can companies comply and keep up with the ever-evolving anti-money-laundering rules and regulations? Today we welcome Jennifer McEntire, the director of Financial Crime Compliance Strategy at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, where they combine big data and use advanced technology and analytics to help customers comply with regulations, evaluate and predict risk, and enhance their operational efficiency. Today, Jen and I are talking about how this can apply to non-financial service corporations, and the four key findings of their recently released report. How can commercial companies begin to assess their money laundering risk?Look at your money laundering risk instead of your anti-money-laundering compliance risk. Check your policies on payments, invoicing, and refunds, and ask if you can be used as a vehicle for money laundering. If you’re a company that sells high-value items, do you have controls in place that require refunds to go directly to the person who purchased in the first place or can payment be dir

Today’s guests are Jon Feig and Andy Reisman, who both work in the Integrity section of Ernst & Young. They are part of a group that published an article in Fraud Magazine entitled: What's your integrity agenda? Bridge the gap between intentions and behavior, which was an astounding piece in the area of innovation and compliance. What is integrity in an organization? Why do companies need to confront integrity risks directly? Andy defines integrity around actions: bridging the gap between the promises a company makes to act ethically, and its actual behavior to the stated promises. The main question is: “Are we doing what we said that we would do?” What is the issue of compliance? It’s both an art and a science. There are policies, systems, programs, and processes that control the integrity agenda. And these have to relate to helping leaders face issues and not shy away from tough questions and establishing compliance officers as trusted advisors. These pieces sit together as four interrelated elements of

We're midway through Tom's five-part series that explores innovation in the compliance function. In today's episode, he considers how design thinking can help Chief Compliance Officers create more robust compliance programs that will become deeply rooted in the company's core.In a recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) article, Jon Kolko discussed how design thinking can bring innovation into a compliance program. The article,  “Design Thinking Comes of Age," talked about how “the approach, once used primarily in product design, is now infusing corporate culture.” It can be used to redesign your compliance program for your internal customers, like your employees and contractors. The goal in redesigning the compliance program is to get these groups to fluidly follow compliance protocols without a second thought. Here are Kolko's Components of Design Thinking:Focus on the users’ experience with compliance. Designers should focus on the "emotional experience” of the users. Doing so allows the user to fin

What if you could create a team that would dramatically improve your company's forecasting ability? But to do so, you must expose those professional corporate forecasters' unreliability. Would you do it? Here for Part 2 of the five-part Innovation in Compliance series, Tom shares his insight into "superforecasting" and its role in compliance functions. Forecasting is the predictive capability organizations use to anticipate or enhance outcomes. The new "superforecasting" movement, led by Philip E. Tetlock and others, aims to enhance this capability even further by following four precepts.To frame the precepts, in a recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) article by Tetlock and Paul J. H. Schoemaker, entitled “Superforecasting: How to Upgrade Your Company’s Judgment,” the authors revealed three general observations: “Talented generalists can outperform specialists in making forecasts.”   “Carefully crafted training can enhance predictive acumen.”    “Well-run teams can outperform ind

So far in this 5-part series, we’ve dived deep into the different aspects of ‘front line’ compliance. For the final episode, Tom discusses the process of innovation itself. In an article in the MIT Sloan Management Review, entitled “Finding a Lower-Risk Path to High-Impact Innovations," authors Joseph V. Sinfield and Freddy Solis came up with a different method to view the innovation process. They call it the ‘Lily Pad’ approach, and Tom breaks down some interesting ways to apply it.Tom begins with the premise of the article, found in the traditional risk-reward theory, that talks about how the way an organization views innovation affects the way the company goes about it. Those that invest more want to see more return, and those who don’t often see more incremental changes.Which one is more effective? The authors of the article mentioned above believe the incremental approach, or the ‘Lily Pad’ approach, allows a progressive cascade of innovation moving forward - or leaping from one lily pad to the next.The

What is the intersection of innovation in your compliance program and the requirements of an effective compliance program? Today, Tom Fox continues his 5-part series on the front lines of compliance with Hallmark 10 of the Ten Hallmarks of an Effective Compliance Program.Hallmark 10 states that: “A good compliance program should constantly evolve. A company’s business changes over time, as do the environments in which it operates, the nature of its customers, the laws that govern its actions, and the standards of its industry. In addition, compliance programs that do not just exist on paper but are followed in practice will inevitably uncover compliance weaknesses and require enhancements. Consequently, DOJ and SEC evaluate whether companies regularly review and improve their compliance programs and not allow them to become stale.” What does that actually mean? In short, it’s about putting compliance into the fabric of your organization. There are many ways to go about doing this, and one of the most eff

This week, Tom begins a five-part series on innovation in the compliance function. Seeing as the compliance space is in constant evolution, now is a good time to talk about some innovations and how companies can implement them in their own compliance programs. Today, Tom shares his insight on agile innovation methods that you can consider for your compliance program.In a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article entitled, “Embracing Agile,” authored by Darrell K. Rigby, Jeff Sutherland and Hirotaka Takeuchi, said that agile methodologies “involve new values, principles, practices, and benefits and are a radical alternative to ‘command and control’ style management.” The transition is then accomplished by strategically moving employees “out of their functional silos and putting them in customer-focused multidisciplinary teams."One of the most basic problems is that business executives know only the bare minimum when it comes to agile and its potential dangers. This impedes them from understanding the comprehensive

What happens when a compliance program gets lost in translation? Or worse, what if you translate your compliance program but it's still missing important information and details? Carlos Ayres, Founding Partner at Maeda, Ayres & Sarubbi Advogados, works with compliance, investigations, and government enforcement to implement and enhance their compliance programs and anti-corruption measures. Tom and Carlos discuss the importance of ‘tropicalizing’ your compliance program and how it benefits the organization.What does tropicalizing your compliance program mean? Let's say you have a company in the United States and you decide to open a satellite branch in Latin America. It’s common practice for US-based headquarters to share their compliance programs and other resources to help set up the international branch. This is where the problems usually start. Compliance training programs and policies are often directly translated into the international branch's language with little to no regard for local compliance

We know what a bribe is and what to do to avoid it, but bribery often takes many forms. If that's the case, how can you prepare employees to identify and address risks that aren't presented in black and white? Join Tom Fox and SAI Vice President of Learning, Rebecca Turco, as they discuss compliance training solutions. They talk about some of Rebecca's best practices in compliance and ethics training, along with other trends in learning.  Finding effective ways to target users with personalized training content can be quite a struggle for some companies. This is because one-size-fits-all compliance training programs aren't effective in delivering key information. This is where adaptive learning comes in handy. It presents content and relevant information in more meaningful and relatable ways. Rebecca talks about how adaptive learning doesn't reinvent the whole training process. How it gives participants the freedom to skip the topics they already understand and focus on new yet relevant pieces of in

Corporate training programs are a great investment. They’re designed to address specific needs to improve the organization and help minimize compliance issues. But given the number of employees and hours it takes to fulfill these requirements, it’s also a hefty expense. How can companies invest in such programs and keep their stakeholders happy? Join Tom Fox and Shawn Rogers as they talk about corporate governance and how it can streamline corporate training protocols.What inspired Shawn to integrate corporate governance into his training protocols? Required training in corporations goes beyond traditional compliance risk training programs. There is training for safety, cybersecurity, information, and lifecycle management - and the list goes on and on. As the Lead Counsel of Compliance Training and Communications at General Motors, Shawn helped devise a plan to keep the selection of programs relevant and fresh, which was no small feat.Faced with such a task, Shawn had to come up with an innovative solution. S

Today’s episode focuses on the measurability of KPIs in organizational justice. Tom is joined by Philip Winterburn, Chief Product Officer at Convercent. Together, they dive deep into fairness, using surveys to test the ethical health of an organization, and the value of benchmarking. Organizational justice is not just about procedures, it goes beyond the law. It’s about how we treat employees throughout their employment. Fairness is when the hierarchy doesn’t affect the consequences of unethical behavLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when you acquire or merge with a company with FCPA violations? What are the risks that come from doing so? Eric Feldman, Senior Vice President of Affiliated Monitors, Inc.™,  joins Tom to talk about mergers and acquisitions. They discuss the role that the pre-acquisition and post-acquisition phases play in integrating the target company’s systems and culture into your own company.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your suppliers aren’t the only risk for your company. When was the last time you investigated your customers? There’s an estimated $800 billion to $2 trillion dollars worth of laundered money circulating in the U.S., and it will only get worse unless better guidelines and fail-safes are in place. Jane Jee joins Tom to discuss the importance of customer due diligence and beneficial ownership regulations in corporate compliance.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reporting a compliance infraction might sound easy until you’re the one who needs to make the call. Today, Tom and Keturah Pestel share an insightful conversation on the value of proactive internal reporting. Keturah is the Code of Conduct Program Manager for Thrivent’s Business Ethics Office. She is also participating Converge18 as one of the Breakout Speakers.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blockchain technology stretches across a wide selection of corporate industries. This ever-evolving digital ledger chronologically and publicly records transactions, and now has anti-corruption compliance professionals asking how blockchain fits into a broader corporate compliance strategy. Tom welcomes two thought leaders from Ernst and Young: Paul Brody and Alexander Perry. The three of them discuss the power of blockchains and how they can be effectively implemented in a compliance practice.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conflict of interest can turn into a tricky conversation, especially with the steady rise of independent contractors working for multiple clients at a time. Today’s guest, David Bunker, helps us understand the ‘conflict of interest’ risk management process. David is one of the top compliance professionals around and serves as the Compliance Officer for Vulcan Inc. Tom and David discuss how to best handle these kinds of risks and what independent gig economy contractors can do for your organization.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jared Connors is a subject matter expert on Corporate Social Responsibility and Compliance at Assent, an innovative company that helps businesses to link their CSR and Compliance departments to ensure a strong and ethical supply chain. In turn, this also creates a more efficient business and gives companies and competitive advantage in the marketplace.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reporting compliance issues can be a complex problem for both frontline employees and compliance practitioners. In today’s episode, Tom talks with Philip Winterburn, the co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Convercent – a Denver, Colorado-based compliance software company.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ellen Hunt in the Chief Audit Executive and Ethics and Compliance Officer at AARP. Her experience in the industry is impressive: running departments, reporting to governance, handling investigations, designing education, and more. She’s been featured in numerous Ethics and Compliance publications and she regularly contributes to others. Ellen will be presenting at Converge18, and today’s episode is a preview of the amazing content she has to share.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices