By Adam Turteltaub

With ever more attention paid to the role of boards in overseeing compliance, the question naturally comes up:  Do boards even understand what makes for an effective compliance program?  To help answer that question we spoke with Vera Cherepanova (LinkedIn), Executive Director of the non-profit Boards of the Future.

She shares the unfortunate news that many boards are not where they should be.  They are not fully seeing culture as a risk factor and driver of misconduct.  Nor do many understand their own duty to manage it.

That’s dangerous in these times, especially now that governments are paying closer attention to culture.

Forces, though, are starting to change the equation and force boards to understand the role they and compliance play together in ensuring both integrity within the company and business success.  Supply chain issues and ESG, for example, have brough compliance in closer contact with the governing authority.  So, too, is regionalization.  As countries take divergent paths into more and more issues, the compliance team will be essential in helping the board understand the risks that they face.

More, though, will need to be done.  Boards need to start addressing issues such as values conflicts like they do other risks.  And, more people with compliance experience should be added to boards.

Listen in to learn more about what boards are and are not doing.