It might feel like a dry subject but business owners can't ignore corporate compliance. It's an essential part of managing risk and ensuring that your business operates smoothly in today's regulatory environment.
Big-name companies like Credit Suisse the Bank of America and JP Morgan have all been subject to compliance fines in recent years. This brings with it the risk of reputational damage and long-term loss of income.
Developing a comprehensive compliance program can protect your company from these risks. Read on to find out more about corporate compliance and what it means for your business.
What Is Corporate Compliance?
Corporate compliance is about making sure that your company stays on the right side of the law. There will be various regulations that affect every company in your country. These will relate to health and safety and financial reporting. You must ensure that your company complies with these regulations.
Also there will be industry-specific regulations that you must obey. These will depend on the nature of your business. For example food manufacturers must follow the FDA Food Saftey Modernization Act (FSMA). Construction and agricultural industries are subject to OSHA standards in the USA.
Compliance and Risk Management
A key aspect of compliance management is identifying the most significant risks to your organization. You can then mitigate against these risks through robust compliance measures. There are some key risks that affect almost every industry. These are data protection financial reporting and health and safety.
Data Protection
This is a major risk area for many organizations. It's imperative to keep customer and employee personal data secure. Companies must disclose any breaches of privacy according to the relevant laws. It's important to take measures to prevent a data disaster. All your employees should understand their role in this.
Financial Reporting
All companies are required to undertake some level of financial reporting. How complex this is will depend on the level of government compliance that is required. Publicly traded businesses have to publish regular financial statements. They need to provide very specific data sets. Failure to follow these regulations can result in heavy fines.
Environmental Health and Safety
It's critical to ensure regulatory compliance with all the rules relating to environmental pollution and worker safety. This is the best way to protect your company from reputational damage or financial loss.
Companies need to ensure that all relevant policies are up to date. The policies also need to be communicated effectively. This protects your employees customers and the natural environment from harm.
The Importance of Compliance Management
It's critical to have a well-managed corporate compliance program to protect your business. You need to ensure that policies and procedures reflect all the relevant regulations.
Staff must be trained to be familiar with these policies and to maintain the required standards. Companies also need a communications strategy. This will ensure that updated regulations can be disseminated with relevant stakeholders.
Need Some Help With Your Corporate Compliance?
There's a lot to take in here and it can seem complicated to people who aren't compliance experts. If this topic all sounds too overwhelming you should ask a corporate compliance specialist to come to your rescue.
A compliance professional can help you develop a corporate compliance program. For peace of mind don't hesitate to contact us to discuss your compliance management needs.
Our technological expertise and extensive experience allow us to work with virtually any system enabling you to meet your specific goals and objectives–no matter how complex they may be. We pride ourselves on offering sophisticated solutions that other smaller IT firms simply cannot offer outfitting your company with a reliable support system as your needs expand and evolve.
