By Adam Turteltaub

Where is the compliance profession now and where is it going?

To find out we sat down with Chris Audet, Chief of Research at the Gartner Center for Legal, Risk & Compliance Leaders. Gartner recently issued a report: “Key Budget, Staffing and Spending Trends for Compliance in 2023”, and in this podcast he shares some of the insights in it.

When it comes to budgets, compliance teams are strained, but not how they expected. During the pandemic there were fears of large funding cuts. While there have been some reductions, on the whole they have been minor.

However, workloads have increased dramatically. This has led, he explains, to overstretched departments where the loss of even one FTE can be devastating.

Three key issues have led to the increase in demands on compliance teams:

The challenge of tracking regulations.

A rising number of issues, such as ESG, that may have begun in another department but are now considered compliance’s responsibility

Conducing internal investigations in an expeditious manner. With workers in the office less, the pace of investigations has slowed.

To help get the work done compliance teams are investing more heavily in technology, particularly in risk management systems. The pace of investment is expected to grow as compliance teams contend with flat budgets and reduced staff.

To retain staff, Gartner advises creating a strong value proposition that includes a work-life balance and career development.

Listen in to learn more about the state of compliance and how teams are coping.