Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance: It Can't Happen to Us—Avoiding Corporate Disaster While Driving Success

The Rewards

Change is never easy. For most companies, however, continuing along the same compliance path is not a viable option. Costs are soaring, instances of noncompliance rising, and the risk of a devastating failure is all too real.

Getting to a truly effective and efficient compliance process is attainable. Some companies have already gotten there, realizing the tremendous associated business benefits in understanding that the marketplace—consumer, work force, investor, and societal—sees legal and regulatory requirements as a minimum standard, which when exceeded significantly enhances market share, profitability, and return. When one considers the current costs and lack of effectiveness, together with the upside potential, a decision to get this right becomes evident. Those companies that do get it right position themselves to reap the associated rewards.

Notes

1. This chapter derives from the author's paper, “The High Cost of Non-Compliance: Reaping the Rewards of an Effective Compliance Program,” published February 2010 by OpenPages.

2. OCEG 2005 Benchmarking Study.

3. META Group research conducted on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

4. Securities Industry Association Compliance Report, 2006.

5. Small Business Administration report, “The Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms,” W. Mark Crain, 2010, as reported by Compliance Week.

6. META Group research conducted on behalf of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

7. Holland & Knight, 2006.

8. A recent report by the Ethics Resource ...