Resources for Professional Development of Current and Future CECOs

The following non-profit organizations offer professional development programs for
ethics and compliance officers.

American Bar Association (ABA)

The American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional association in the world. With more than 400,000 members, the ABA provides law school accreditation, continuing legal education, information about the law, programs to assist lawyers and judges in their work, and initiatives to improve the legal system for the public. From a legal perspective, the American Bar Association offers its members webcasts to develop their ethical know-how and provide them with the tools necessary to successfully navigate ethical dilemmas. Some of the topics include: 1) Discussion of the existence of sufficient safeguards to ensure compliance with ethical responsibilities for lawyers in the government, 2) complying with standards in the healthcare industry, and others. Additionally, ABA holds a national conference on professional responsibility. This conference addresses recent trends in legal ethics and professionalism, and is the preeminent educational and networking opportunity for lawyers in the field of ethics and professional responsibility.

Website: www.abanet.org

Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is the in-house bar association(SM) serving the professional needs of attorneys who practice in the legal departments of corporations and other private sector organizations worldwide. Members of the bar who work in organizations, but not within the legal department, are also eligible for membership in the ACC. This would include compliance and ethics officers who are also attorneys. ACC provides a wide variety of educational programs where compliance and ethics are consistently featured topics, including at its annual meeting and its Corporate Counsel University (such events taking place in the United States, Europe, and Canada). These programs improve leadership and management skills, and some also qualify for ethics credits towards CLE requirements. Additionally, the ACC holds webcasts that provide substantive information on legal topics relevant to in-house counsel and compliance and ethics officers, some of which also qualify for ethics credit toward CLE requirements. The ACC also makes available on its website a wide variety of materials related to compliance and ethics, including white papers (InfoPAKs(SM)), practice profiles, member surveys, and sample forms and policies. The ACC publishes the ACC Docket magazine ten times a year which contains compliance and ethics related articles; typically one issue annually is dedicated to compliance and ethics.

Website: www.acc.com

Bentley College Center for Business Ethics

Established in 1976, the Center for Business Ethics (CBE) is one of the world's leading research and educational institutes in the field of business ethics. CBE offers a five-day executive development course in partnership with the ECOA. Introduced in 1995, "Managing Ethics in Organizations" was the first course in the world to provide ethics and compliance practitioners with a professional credential as well as the practical knowledge and tools to manage an organization's efforts to ensure lasting business integrity.  Bentley's Graduate Certificate and MBA Concentration in Business Ethics (also the first of their kind) are offered under CBE's auspices.  Through CBE's outreach activities and publications (especially the practitioner-focused Business and Society Review) CBE plays a significant role in advancing business ethics knowledge and public discourse.  CBE held the first national conference on business ethics in 1977, and subsequently 9 international conferences and two Global Business Ethics Symposia.  Its public lecture programs are notable for the high caliber and profile of the CEO speakers and visiting professors they attract.

Website: www.bentley.edu/cbe

Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics

The Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics (the Institute) is an independent center established in partnership with Business Roundtable—an association of 160 CEOs from leading companies—to renew and enhance the link between ethical behavior and business practice. The Institute brings together leaders from business and academia to fulfill this mission through executive education programs, practitioner-focused research and outreach.

The Institute's educational programs include ethics seminars for Chief Executives, Boards of Directors and Senior Executives. These programs—which provide an intimate environment that fosters leading practice exchange—are led by the Institute's Academic Advisors, a group of leading experts from many of America's top business schools who combine thought leadership with decades of hands-on experience in guiding leaders from a variety of industries.

Website: www.corporate-ethics.org

Defense Industry Initiative (DII)

The Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct is a consortium of US defense industry contractors which subscribes to a set of principles for achieving high standards of business ethics and conduct.  Signatories to the DII have access to an exclusive collection of ethics and compliance training materials, share best practices, and participate in information and training programs.

Website: www.dii.org

Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA)

As the only organization exclusively for ethics and compliance executives, ECOA is the mission-driven leader and global voice for the ethics and compliance community. ECOA is committed to tapping the network of knowledge and thought leadership from our collective experiences to align trust and corporate integrity to business performance and - together - to shape the future of the ethics and compliance profession. ECOA members benefit from numerous conferences; seminars; workshops; research, surveys and benchmark studies; our alliance with the Ethics Resource Center; ECOA's DIALOGUE (blog); a continuum of information through newsletters, webcasts and daily reports posted on our web site; and our online resource library."

Website: www.theecoa.org

Ethics Resource Center (ERC)

The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) is devoted to independent research and the advancement of high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions.  For 85 years, the ERC has been a resource for institutions committed to strong ethical cultures.

ERC uses its expertise to inform the public dialogue on ethics and ethical behavior. ERC analyzes current and emerging ethics issues, produces new ideas and benchmarks, and offers insight to encourage behavior of the highest integrity.  Professionals are also able to access ERC research findings through Ethics Today, an online publication, or through an online benchmarking portal.

The Ethics Resource Center is also home to the US benchmark on workplace ethics, fielded through its National Workplace Ethics Studies.  Since 1994, the Ethics Resource Center (ERC) has issued its flagship report from this research—the National Business Ethics Survey (NBES)—measuring levels of misconduct, the prevalence of ethics cultures and the impact of ethics programs on employees in business.  In addition to its core question set, each version of the survey has evolved along with the nation's business, expanding to include relevant questions pertaining to contemporary issues.

The ERC Fellows Program consists of a select group of corporate, government, non-profit and educational leaders who share an expertise and strong practical interest in the fields of organizational ethics. It gives ethics leaders an opportunity to engage in collaboration and research to identify, examine and further understand critical organizational ethics questions. An emphasis is placed on work products or research outputs with practical applications for corporate member organizations.

Website: www.ethics.org

Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)

HCCA is a new forum for healthcare professionals involved in compliance serving all segments of the health care industry. HCCA holds an annual conference called the Compliance Institute, which has become the standard for compliance education. The HCCA's 2007 Compliance Institute offers an incomparable conference lineup with many of the health care industry's leaders contributing their knowledge and expertise. HCCA provides health care compliance officers and risk managers with information on the various components of Compliance, Ethics, and Corporate Responsibility plans and programs within the health care arena, as well as knowledge of compliance procedures and issues related to the various health care laws and regulations.

Website: www.hcca-info.org

Open Compliance and Ethics Group (OCEG)

OCEG® is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization helping companies align their governance, risk and compliance activities with their organizational objectives to Drive Principled Performance™. OCEG® created a one-of-a-kind resource the OCEG Foundation Framework ("The Red Book") which is an integrated view of the mandatory and voluntary boundaries and the core and additional business practices that effect successful GRC programs as recommended by seasoned practitioners and vetted through an open and public review process.  Through the OCEG Knowledge Portal, members are able to access and download, in a variety of formats, custom reports from the Foundation Framework as well as domain supplements, tools, guides, handbooks and thousands of sources. 

In addition to these core materials, OCEG makes the following items available to the public:

• GRC Illustrated Series (providing visual representations of key governance, risk and compliance initiatives)
• OCEG Benchmark Series (providing data to substantiate business cases and prove value)
• OCEG Webinar Series (providing educational and insightful discussions and training on critical issues facing today's GRC professionals)

OCEG makes it easy to find the materials most pertinent to your needs through our role-based entry-points and our topic-based reading rooms.  Weekly newsletters keep you apprised of the latest in OCEG events and publications.  Our quarterly publication GRC360° keeps you abreast of key trends and issues.  Lastly, OCEG fosters networking and knowledge sharing through-out the OCEG GRC community of practice in our Member-to-Member area, the OCEG IT Forum, and in our roundtable events.

Website: www.oceg.org

Practising Law Institute (PLI)

Practising Law Institute (PLI) is a non-profit continuing legal education organization dedicated to providing the legal community and allied professionals with the most up-to-date, relevant information and techniques that are critical to the development of a professional, competitive edge. PLI holds a 'Corporate Compliance and Ethics Institute' to provide professionals involved in the process of corporate compliance and ethics with the most current developments. At the Corporate Compliance and Ethics Institute, a distinguished faculty, comprised of in-house counsel and compliance officers from major corporations, members of ethics organizations, law firms, academia, and the government, will give you the tools you need to develop and advance an effective compliance program and successfully promote your program within your organization.  These leading experts in the field also provide guidance on how to make your company's compliance plan stand up to the rigorous new standards. For the more seasoned compliance practitioner, PLI holds a hands-on "Advanced Corporate Compliance Workshop" featuring interactive break-out sessions and compliance topics marathons allowing for the in-depth analysis of mature programs and the challenges they face.  Participants are given the opportunity to delve deeper into the compliance issues their organizations face and obtain first hand solutions from the experts.  PLI also partners with Corpedia to provide the highest level of on-line compliance and ethics training.

PLI also conducts an Annual Director's Institute on Corporate Governance and an Audit Committee Workshop program.  Many of PLI's publications are of direct assistance to compliance and ethics officers, including: "The Sarbanes-Oxley Deskbook," "Doing Business Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," "Proskauer on Privacy," and "Disability Law Deskbook."

Website: www.pli.edu

Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE)

SCCE holds an annual Compliance & Ethics Institute which is a primary education and global networking event for corporate compliance and ethics professionals. Outstanding leaders in the compliance industry share their knowledge, resources, and methods for developing and improving programs in today's challenging compliance environment. A new SCCE certification program allows participants in all industries to become Certified Compliance and Ethics Professionals (CCEP). The purpose of CCEP is to heighten the credibility of compliance practitioners and enhance the credibility of compliance programs staffed by these certified professionals. SCCE offers many communication resources, a bi-monthly Compliance and Ethics Magazine, and a Web site featuring the latest compliance and ethics news, policies and procedures, and answers on current compliance issues. The SCCE Code of Ethics for Compliance Professionals sets specific standards of conduct that are expected of compliance professionals and recognizes the responsibilities of the profession to the general public, employers, and clients.

Website: www.corporatecompliance.org