Compliance Officers Face Increased Challenges
During times of economic uncertainty, such as what is being experienced today, companies look for ways to cut expenses and reduce staff. Even though business may be slower and revenues down, the area of financial and regulatory compliance has a greater workload than ever. Not investing in competent staff and compliance products, like software programs, could be a costly error.
There was a time, not that long ago, when compliance issues were relegated to the accounting staff to work in when everything else on their list was checked off. There may still be businesses that function that way, but they are getting to be fewer all the time. Not complying with all of the myriad laws and regulations can be a very costly error, and the number of those requirements keeps increasing.
Many in the corporate world speak of life before SOX and after SOX, referring, of course, to the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This was a direct reaction to the scandals that decimated public confidence in how businesses were doing their financial reporting. Largely due to this heightened oversight, it became critical for companies to place more emphasis on their compliance efforts. For those that already had a compliance officer on board, the duties and expectations were increased: for those that did not, the position was created.
The Corporate Compliance Officer, or CCO, is responsible, not only for the reporting requirements levied by local, state and federal regulatory bodies, but also for the implementation and monitoring of all internal policies and procedures and, often, works closely with the human resources department. The scope of this position is enormous and becomes more complex and demanding all the time. Fortunately, innovations in financial compliance software have provided the means for consolidating and tracking the numerous and diverse tasks.
Compliance products, like the software programs available, allow the CCO to automate all phases of corporate policy and procedure, as well as regulatory commitments, from start to finish. In the past, sharing information, waiting for reviews and approval and then disseminating to appropriate staff and employees took days, if not weeks or months. Now, the entire process can be accomplished with a few keystrokes, which will not only save considerable time and expense, but also provide documentation of each step.
The role of compliance officer has changed dramatically in the past few years. More and more laws and regulations are constantly being put in place, in an attempt to avoid repeats of Enron and WorldCom. In addition, fines and penalties have skyrocketed. Having an experienced and talented CCO, armed with high-quality financial compliance software, on your team may be one of the best business decisions you make.
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