Compliance Perspectives

By Adam Turteltaub

Jeff Williams works now as a compliance director, but before that, he had been working in accounting with experience in external audit. He was no stranger to the world of compliance, but, as he notes, there’s a huge difference once you move into the role.

In this podcast he shares his experience and what an accountant or auditor considering a role in compliance should know. Listen in as he discusses the working understanding he had of compliance going in.  He rightly understood the job to be about creating internal controls, managing risk, teaching the workforce, building trust and serving as a go-to resource.  Once he got into the job, though, he was met by some surprises, including how dreaded an appearance from the compliance officer could be.

He addresses how he learned the new role, and how it’s important to make sure others understand that compliance officers are human beings who are there to listen to and support the business team.

From a skills perspective, he shares that an accounting background is a great asset since it provides experience in looking for consistency in controls and understanding what the controls to be.

But, there are adjustments to be made such as working on a much smaller team.

This podcast is a valuable asset for anyone from accounting looking to make the leap into compliance, and for compliance officers adding someone with an accounting or audit background to their team.

By Adam Turteltaub

Looking at the corruption prosecutions in Brazil, it may easy to be discouraged about the chances of operating a business compliantly there.

But, that would be a mistake. Pyter Stradioto, Latin America Legal, Compliance and Government Relations Director for Samsung sees this as an asset. According to Pyter, prosecutions in Brazil have demonstrated that the institutions are growing stronger, which is a positive development for the business community. There is now a wave, Pyter reports, demanding a better business environment, particularly in the corruption arena.

As a result, companies are in the midst of a massive investment in compliance and ethics programs. Business is recognizing that it needs a better risk management approach, and that includes areas other than anti-corruption. Brazil, for example, is very aggressive in enforcement of labor, environmental, and consumer law (especially data protection and privacy).

Listen in for a frontline view from an experienced compliance officer in Brazil.

By Adam Turteltaub

Looking at the corruption prosecutions in Brazil, it may easy to be discouraged about the chances of operating a business compliantly there.

But, that would be a mistake. Pyter Stradioto, Latin America Legal, Compliance and Government Relations Director for Samsung sees this as an asset. According to Pyter, prosecutions in Brazil have demonstrated that the institutions are growing stronger, which is a positive development for the business community. There is now a wave, Pyter reports, demanding a better business environment, particularly in the corruption arena.

As a result, companies are in the midst of a massive investment in compliance and ethics programs. Business is recognizing that it needs a better risk management approach, and that includes areas other than anti-corruption. Brazil, for example, is very aggressive in enforcement of labor, environmental, and consumer law (especially data protection and privacy).

Listen in for a frontline view from an experienced compliance officer in Brazil.

By Adam Turteltaub

There is a great deal of discussion in the compliance community about the impact that pressure has on decision making.  Studies show that under pressure people are likely to make poor decisions and often grow more superstitious and less rational.  That’s difficult for a compliance and ethics program to manage in a business setting.

Imagine the added complexity for the military where decisions of life and death are made under extraordinary demands.

Charly Shugg ([email protected]) is currently a partner at the cyber security firm Sylint.  Notably, he is a retired Brigadier General in the US Air Force and a graduate of the Air Force Academy.   In this conversation, he shares how the military has made compliance and ethics a part of training and day-to-day life.  He also shares his perspectives on the importance of providing real-life examples, creating the right code of conduct and core values, and getting learning from ethics and compliance failures.

Listen in to gain the benefit of his wisdom.

By Adam Turteltaub

There is a great deal of discussion in the compliance community about the impact that pressure has on decision making.  Studies show that under pressure people are likely to make poor decisions and often grow more superstitious and less rational.  That’s difficult for a compliance and ethics program to manage in a business setting.

Imagine the added complexity for the military where decisions of life and death are made under extraordinary demands.

Charly Shugg ([email protected]) is currently a partner at the cyber security firm Sylint.  Notably, he is a retired Brigadier General in the US Air Force and a graduate of the Air Force Academy.   In this conversation, he shares how the military has made compliance and ethics a part of training and day-to-day life.  He also shares his perspectives on the importance of providing real-life examples, creating the right code of conduct and core values, and getting learning from ethics and compliance failures.

Listen in to gain the benefit of his wisdom.

By Adam Turteltaub

Your IT department needs some code written for the website, or maybe for handling an inventory management issue.  So, they go online to one of the sites for finding coding talent, and hire a firm.  Believe it or not, there’s a chance that the person writing the code could be North Korean, and that could put your organization at substantial risk, both in legal and reputational terms.

Mark Allenbaugh is a trade consultant for companies doing business in China, and he warns that North Korean programmers living in China may be doing coding for your company.  Either your IT manager doesn’t realize that the person is North Korean, or a company your firm hires in, for example, Germany, subcontracts the work out to Chinese firm, which uses North Korean workers.

It’s a scary prospect, but there is some good news:  North Korean programmers often leave a digital fingerprint.

Listen in to learn more about this risk and what you should do to avoid it.

By Adam Turteltaub

Your IT department needs some code written for the website, or maybe for handling an inventory management issue.  So, they go online to one of the sites for finding coding talent, and hire a firm.  Believe it or not, there’s a chance that the person writing the code could be North Korean, and that could put your organization at substantial risk, both in legal and reputational terms.

Mark Allenbaugh is a trade consultant for companies doing business in China, and he warns that North Korean programmers living in China may be doing coding for your company.  Either your IT manager doesn’t realize that the person is North Korean, or a company your firm hires in, for example, Germany, subcontracts the work out to Chinese firm, which uses North Korean workers.

It’s a scary prospect, but there is some good news:  North Korean programmers often leave a digital fingerprint.

Listen in to learn more about this risk and what you should do to avoid it.

By Adam Turteltaub

When we think of Walmart, we tend to think of big box stores with an elderly greeter at the door, but Walmart is also a huge player in the e-commerce world.  The company forecasted over $11 billion in online sales in 2017.

With those sales comes a team based in Silicon Valley, including a compliance team.  Lance Lanciault, Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for US eCommerce for Walmart, was good enough to talk with us about how their compliance program is structured, and some of the challenges he and the company faces.

Listen in for a far-reaching discussion covering:

* Creating common values across multiple cultures

* Managing expectations for the compliance program during and after an acquisition

* The importance of recognizing the distinction between cultures and values, and the importance of finding common values

By Adam Turteltaub

When we think of Walmart, we tend to think of big box stores with an elderly greeter at the door, but Walmart is also a huge player in the e-commerce world.  The company forecasted over $11 billion in online sales in 2017.

With those sales comes a team based in Silicon Valley, including a compliance team.  Lance Lanciault, Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer for US eCommerce for Walmart, was good enough to talk with us about how their compliance program is structured, and some of the challenges he and the company faces.

Listen in for a far-reaching discussion covering:

* Creating common values across multiple cultures

* Managing expectations for the compliance program during and after an acquisition

* The importance of recognizing the distinction between cultures and values, and the importance of finding common values

By Adam Turteltaub

It is generally reported that about half of all mergers and acquisitions fail on culture issues.  It’s also well known in the compliance community that the integration of two companies is often fraught with risk.  What is okay in one company may not be okay behavior in another.  Plus, in the chaos of change, there is great danger if the compliance controls get lost in the shuffle.

In 2016 Dell Technologies completed its acquisition of EMC Corporation, which virtually doubled the company’s numbers of employees.

In this podcast two members of the Global Ethics & Compliance Team – Dale Skivington, Vice President of Compliance, and Page Motes, Director of the Strategic Programs Office — share how Dell made the integration work.  They recount the experience Dell had from past integrations as well as some of the specifics that went into this very large undertaking.  Listen in and enjoy some key takeaways including:

* The importance of making the compliance integration part of the broader integration program

* The need to communicate frequently, regularly and in a structured way

* The role that key strategic milestones played

* How setting key actions items to the milestones helped

* The value of a collaborative approach