The Promises and Perils of Compliance

In today’s era of increased regulation and renewed enforcement efforts, unethical behavior and misconduct are a focus of concern among not only governments and regulators, but also investors, firms, employees, customers, and the public. Accordingly, compliance programs have gained prominence in the organizational agenda. A properly designed and implemented compliance program provides crucial assurance for all stakeholders that an organization’s personnel abide by all applicable regulations, internal ethical principles, codes of conduct, and other guidelines. Based on empirical experience and illustrative cases, The Promises and Perils of Compliance seeks to discuss compliance not as just another management tool, but rather as a collection of rules, norms and controls embedded into an organization’s culture and environment that must be understood when designing a compliance program. The authors propose that organizations must be transparent at all stages of the design and implementation of the compliance program and be prepared to interpret, adapt, change, and redefine the program in action. It is also important for organizations to set a realistic agenda for the program so that gains can be seen and celebrated by all stakeholders. This book offers a pathway to understanding the organizational dynamics any compliance effort needs to consider. It will benefit business students as well as managers, compliance officers, and CEOs and executives at every level.