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The Release of Statistics on Ethics and Compliance Programs In Enforcement Decisions: A Joint Report To The DOJ

The Release of Statistics on Ethics and Compliance Programs In Enforcement Decisions: A Joint Report To The DOJ

January 27, 2011
Document
Topic: 
Federal Policy

Joint Report by the Ethics Resource Center (ERC), Ethics & Compliance Officer Association (ECOA), and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE)

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In the News

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Survey Background

In recent years, extensive ethics and compliance programs have become an integral part of corporate life, having grown significantly in prevalence, scope and effectiveness. Based on our research and the direct experience of our memberships, we know that the development of these programs has played a major role in building ethical cultures and promoting ethical behavior inside businesses. When well-implemented, there is evidence that ethics and compliance programs reduce misconduct and grow strong ethical cultures.

The ERC, ECOA, and the SCCE believe that, working together, the private sector ethics and compliance community and government enforcement agencies can deepen this commitment to ethical business and respect for the law by sharing information and identifying best practices in ethics and compliance.

The participation by DOJ enforcement officials at compliance and ethics forums sponsored by the ERC, ECOA, and SCCE throughout 2010 has expanded dialogue between the ethics and compliance community and government enforcement agencies. Among the areas of high interest, as identified in these discussions, is the importance given to ethics and compliance programs in prosecution and settlement decisions by government enforcement agencies.

In these forums ethics and compliance officers have urged enforcement officials to help build support for ethics and compliance through the public release of information about the mitigation benefits of strong ethics and compliance programs. Enforcement officials, in turn, want to know in greater detail how ethics and compliance officers use current DOJ data and what additional information would be most helpful.

Survey Method

Two surveys were distributed among corporate ethics and compliance practitioners; one conducted by the ERC and the SCCE, and one survey fielded among members of the ECOA. Both surveys posed a similar core set of questions; the ERC/SCCE survey contained additional questions not fielded by ECOA.

The survey was conducted from October 28 through November 30, 2010 and in total, 1,223 ethics and compliance professionals participated in the effort; a strong representation of the ethics and compliance field. More than half of the respondents (52%) indicated that they held the title of Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer or the equivalent in their organization.

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What do you think of the DoJ paper? Submit your comment below.
 

DoJ paper is foundational

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on March 22, 2011 - 9:49am.

Getting factual feedback on all the efforts compliance professionals have made to implement the elements of compliance contained in the sentencing guidlines is very important. The whole premise of these elements is that they will indeed be considered when sentencing cases. All the work that goes into these efforts presumes they will be effective in reducing sentences if wrongdiong still occurs. If the guidlines are not being applied by courts, the reason for compliance programs vanishes. Companies need to know whether or not applying the elements has actually been effective with the courts.