New UK Anti-Corruption Plan: It's Time to Have More Than Just a Spreadsheet
The FCPA, in many ways, has served as the go-to informational piece for companies to receive the key points in being compliant with their anti-corruption efforts. With more companies going global and corruption erupting in different parts of the world, more and more countries are developing measures to ensure companies are not lured into conducting such actions. In 2010, the U.K. Bribery Act was introduced, which focused primarily on companies that conducted business within the United Kingdom. This was another measure put in place, so that companies are well aware of the consequences when conducting un-ethical practices. As this has proven to be a well-enacted and enforced legislation, the UK Government has issued a long awaited “UK Anti-Corruption Plan” which will serve as a guide for companies, within the UK conducting business globally. In an article published by Robert Amaee from the FCPA Blog, he writes how the new anti-corruption plan will aim to set a strategic direction for all anti-corruption activity within the UK. Several key points within this new plan have similarities as to how the FCPA, UK Bribery Act, and OCED operate:
“New corporate offense of failure to prevent economic crime. Such an offense could result in a company being held criminally liable for a range of economic crimes committed on its behalf by its employees or associated parties, such as agents, even if board members or senior officers had no knowledge of the wrongdoing.”
As we have seen from past investigations and their outcomes, the majority of the issue is the inability to track and monitor 3rd party business partners/vendors and agents. These entities operate within their countries and typically do not report such practices. With a much higher crack down on corruption related issues, governments are putting the blame on companies, even if the executives and board members were unaware of any wrongdoing.
As governments create more strict laws to protect global business, companies need to take a large step in a direction that allows them to overcome the difficulties of doing business internationally. It all starts with the companies’ ability to track and monitor what their 3rd party business partners/vendors are doing. Ultimately, the idea here is to “get off the spreadsheet” and begin to use a system that allows for a centralized way to train, track, and monitor, all of your vendors/suppliers. Our complimentary webinar helps with knowing where your risk is, how to implement anti-corruption into existing programs, and how to “get off the spreadsheet” with innovative platform solutions. Click here.
