Stopping Corruption and Not Companies

Corruption can affect any industry, public or private. Companies, no mater how large or small, are affected in ways that can “destroy” their brand and hinder the economies in which it resides. Which brings up an interesting point, since most companies, who are affected by the act of corruption, have this happen either from external sources or from individual acts of employees, should the company, as a whole be held responsible? Companies contribute, not only to the global economy, but support their local economies tremendously. Being subject to pay hefty fines, due to the SEC conducting their investigations, can ultimately put a company on the brink of closing its doors. In an article written by Arnold Galvao, of Bloomberg: Rousseff Says Brazil Must Stamp Corruption, Not Companies, he writes that governments need to start penalizing the individual acts of corruption, instead of going after companies as a whole.

“We must know how to punish the crime, not harm the country or its economy,” she said today in Brasilia. “We must close our doors -- all our doors -- on corruption without shutting them on growth or progress and employment.”

Understandably so, the idea is to prevent bad business practices while not halting global commerce for companies.

According to the FCPA, 90 percent of all corruption allegations derive from external sources and/or individual employee actions. With companies expanding their operations into global markets, having 3^rd party business partners conducting business on their behalf, becomes an increasingly alarming risk. The Securities and Exchange Commission looks for companies to have some sort of anti-corruption compliance program, in place, to be readily available for employees. If acts of corruption are found, and no prior preparation was taken place, the company is liable for actions made on its behalf.

 Ultimately the company should be responsible for actions its business partners and its own employees do. The reason for having such policies in place is to safe guard the company from potential acts of bribery or corruption. The SEC is starting to hold individuals accountable and issuing penalties to them and not the companies, just as long as those companies exercised their ability to have a program in place.

Source Intelligence understands when companies grow on a global scale so does their potential risk. Developing a solid plan, that enables you to protect your employees, your company, and ultimately your brand is the goal behind Source Intelligence’s anti-corruption platform. To learn more about our robust anti-corruption platform that enables your company to create and implement an effective anti-corruption plan click here, and for a complimentary benchmarking assessment, click here.