FCPAméricas Blog
Reviewing Your Mexican (or Other) Operations for FCPA Compliance
5.11.2012
Does Wal-Mart have you worried about your Mexican operations? Is your Board asking you to make sure your business units do not have corruption problems that could put your picture in the New York Times (see a recent article in CFO discussing this growing dynamic)? Are you uncertain on where to start?
In an earlier post, FCPAméricas cautioned against a “scattershot” approach to compliance. Targeted FCPA compliance reviews are only one piece of the puzzle and they do not take the place of a comprehensive compliance program. Nevertheless, they can serve an important purpose. They can help ensure that your program is not just words on paper. They can also quickly address areas of immediate concern and give management peace of mind (or a reason to take quick remedial action).
Here are two things you can do in the short-term to review your Mexican (or other) operations.
1. Procedures Review. Test if the anti-corruption procedures currently in place are workin... Read more
Four To-Dos before Seeking Outside FCPA Help
5.10.2012
General Counsel and Internal Compliance Officers get approached regularly by outside FCPA service providers. Lawyers, accountants, technology consultants, due diligence and investigation groups, and on-line trainers are all available to help. And we constantly remind you of this.
Each day the number of options seems to grow, and there is good reason. With every prosecution, press article, whistleblower tip, sanction and cross-debarment action, shareholder derivative lawsuit, new signatory to the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, and statement from enforcement, more companies learn the benefits that flow from compliance and the risks to ignoring it.
Given so many options, companies that are ready to enhance their compliance programs often do not know where to start. Here are four recommendations of things companies should do before seeking outside assistance.
1. Assign Responsibility. Outside compliance experts are of little help if there is not a person at the company in charge of directing and overseeing their work. When outside providers take direction from multiple people, communication lines get crossed. Bills can quickly add up. Whether it is the General Counsel or a specific compliance officer, companies are wise to... Read more
What Wal-Mart Should Have Done
5.04.2012
Since the Wal-Mart bribery story broke, several commentators have argued that companies like Wal-Mart, if they want to stay competitive in countries like Mexico, have no choice but to bribe. To them, the FCPA’s purpose is “strictly moral.” These arguments rest on notions of cultural relativism and the fact that the law disadvantages U.S. companies: “For the U.S. government to attempt to apply America’s definition of what constitutes acceptable business behavior – in America – in a one-size-fits-all approach to doing business abroad makes little sense in a world where no single standard effectively applies — to anything, and it runs counter to the government’s stated objective of making American business more globally competitive.”
It is certainly true that meeting the compliance standards expected by U.S. enforcement is not easy. It requires su... Read more
