GRC pros know that culture and compliance are inexorably linked. COVID has thrown a wrench in corporate culture, though (along with everything else). Calvin London opines about why re-establishing a culture of compliance now may prove difficult.
(Non)Compliance in 2020
I, for one, was very glad to see the back end of 2020. It was the year of COVID, which is putting the last pandemic (the swine flu in 2009 and 2010) into insignificance. It has also been a year of cultural challenges as we try to navigate a safe path through COVID while still attempting to retain some normality, such as going to work or (at a minimum) staying sane.
Against the background of COVID and in the world of compliance, things still moved forward at a record pace. There is always room for corruption and noncompliance in our world, it would seem. Our battle with COVID and our battle with corruption are both underpinned by compliance and culture, two words that go hand in hand.
The DOJ and SEC brought FCPA enforcement actions against 12 companies in 2020 and imposed financial penalties (fines and disgorgement) totaling $6.4 billion. A number of major settlements were reached with corporate bodies – Goldman Sachs, Herbalife, Airbus and Novartis to name a few.
As is often the case, the underlying problem with…
