7 tactics to protect against fines and reputation damage

1. IS YOUR COMPANY RISKING NONCOMPLIANCE?
7TACTICS TO PROTECT AGAINST FINES AND
REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE

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In a Mondaq article titled,“The Consequences Of Non-Compliance In Global Business,” authors Richard
Cantor and David Lewis of BDO International shed some light on the main factors that are making it difficult
for you to stave off the risks of noncompliance:
“Compliance regimes can be simple or complex, but more than anything they are varied.
Furthermore, many territories change their filing regulations frequently, and without a
contact in the country, it can be difficult to keep abreast of these changes. Therefore, the
highest barriers to a truly centralised finance function are the problem of scalability, and
the continued need to rely on local expertise. Without that key local knowledge, businesses
can run foul of laws entirely unintentionally – but the consequences could still be strict.”
Without a proper approach to organizational compliance, you risk not only incurring compliance fines, but
also permanently damaging your reputation.
The following seven steps are critical elements of managing the compliance regulations impacting your
business as well as reducing the risk of fines, penalties and reputation damage from compliance violations
in global operations.
Compliance challenges for multi-national companies are becoming more
complex on a daily basis. Government authorities in many countries continue to
increase their monitoring of compliance and are accessing fines and penalties
more frequently. The related funds are often an important element of what these
companies require to sustain their various activities. In this ‘new normal,’ building
the capability to adhere to continuously evolving regulations is essential. Your
ability to succeed in growing business abroad hinges on many factors, but this is
clearly a key factor.

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1.UNDERSTAND THE
NEED FOR PROACTIVE
COMPLIANCE
Proactive compliance is your greatest tool to
combat noncompliance. There’s a significant
difference between reacting to compliance
violations when they occur and taking steps to
avoid these violations. In many cases, regulators
will be much more punitive when a violation
occurs and they believe the company has not been
proactive. In general, being proactive involves
steps such as:
• Establishing clear policies and procedures that require company personnel to follow all
applicable rules and regulations
• Communicating those policies and procedures, in local languages, to company personnel in
global locations
• Conducting both initial and ongoing training to be sure company personnel understand
applicable rules and regulations
• Having appropriate infrastructure in place to: disseminate applicable rules and regulations to
your various global jurisdictions; address compliance questions as they arise (e.g., a help desk);
and monitor compliance activities as they occur and, more importantly, when they don’t occur
It’s nearly impossible to stay compliant when tasked with meeting compliance deadlines only weeks
in advance. Staying compliant and avoiding costly fines takes a proactive, streamlined approach to
global compliance. Proactive compliance is a marriage between understanding the current compliance
requirements of each of your legal entities and managing steps your people are taking to comply with
those requirements, including maintaining a calendar of compliance reporting deadlines.
2.STAY CURRENT ON COMPLIANCE REGULATIONS
As Cantor and Lewis detailed, compliance regulations are in constant flux. It can make staying up to date
incredibly challenging – but essential nonetheless.
When you’re operating in a global market,acquiring companies,merging with others or investing in new entities,
it’s difficult to know all that you must comply with,and what those regulations are.You must have a means by
which you understand everything required of your organization and how you need to fulfill those requirements.

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In the case of mergers and acquisitions, your most
realistic options are outsourcing your compliance
management to a consulting firm or leveraging
a software solution that identifies compliance
updates for you.
3.ESTABLISH A
COMPLIANCE SCHEDULE
AND STICK TO IT
Learning the most current regulations is step one,
but your knowledge means little if you’re unable
to meet your reporting deadlines. Invest in an
organizational compliance calendar. A tactical
schedule is foundational to proactively complying
with global regulations on your operation.
The most effective compliance calendar is technologically driven and intuitive, empowering you to work
as far ahead of scheduled deadlines as possible. A smart calendar is self-maintaining, meaning it auto-
populates compliance demands and updates your compliance schedules without need for your oversight.
While fundamental, creating a proactive compliance calendar is only one part of the solution. You must
adhere to the schedule outlined by your calendar to ensure that nothing is overlooked. Make sure your entire
team is working with this calendar in mind, tackling the scheduled tasks and monitoring it frequently to stay
ahead of upcoming events.
4.SCALE YOUR COMPLIANCE EFFORTS
Understanding the ins and outs of your organizational compliance efforts is critical, but you must invest
in backing up your compliance roles. Training other team members to manage and fulfill your compliance
demands not only gives you extra resources to handle these requirements should an assigned individual
be unavailable, but also provides additional sets of eyes to monitor your global compliance calendar and
remain proactive. Educate others on your team about your compliance processes and ensure that there are
always human safeguards against noncompliance.

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5.DOCUMENT EVERYTHING
Documentation is critical to proper compliance.
You must document everything to prepare for the
possibility of being audited or having to train new
hires on your processes. Secure documentation
is essential to legal diligence and a safeguard to
address regulators’ questions when searching for
evidence of noncompliance.
Advancements in web-based compliance solutions
have led to the prominence of cloud technology.
Storing all of your documents in a cloud database
is ideal, giving your team safe access to compliance
information from anywhere across the globe.
6.PROMOTE TRANSPARENCY
Stricter compliance penalties now include personal liability. You, other management members and your
board may be held personally responsible for compliance violations. They need to be fully aware of your
current efforts to avoid any violations.
Provide regular updates on your global compliance practices and frequent snapshots of your compliance
calendar. These snapshots should be tailored to share only relevant information with your various internal
stakeholders. Transparency offers peace of mind to everyone responsible for compliance, whether they’re
managing compliance regulations daily, proving compliance in the event of a merger or acquisition or
answering to regulators regarding your overall compliance picture.
7.EXPLORE WEB-BASED OPTIONS
Cloud-based compliance solutions streamline many of the time-intensive aspects of proactive compliance,
such as creating a calendar and monitoring global compliance regulations. With digitized records, forms and
files, exhaustive paperwork is unnecessary. Your time is better utilized managing your compliance efforts and
helping your business grow rather than executing tactical demands.
The fear of noncompliance and its consequences is understandable – but noncompliance is preventable. Enact
these principles of proactive compliance and you’re more likely to succeed in building a global business.

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Interested in learning more about how to
improve your organizational compliance efforts?
Contact ComplyGlobal today to learn how to
start on the path to proactive compliance.
www.complyglobal.com