Introduction
Corporate compliance is one of management’s highest risk concerns. Implementation of a robust compliance and ethics programme based on company values and appropriate risk based compliance has helped companies maintain integrity and avoid or minimize non-compliance issues. Organizations are increasingly seeking to validate their compliance programmes against a recognized standard. Behaviours that create and support compliance programmes are encouraged, and behaviours that compromise compliance are not tolerated.
What is the meaning of compliance?
Compliance means conforming to a stated rule or requirement such as a specification, policy, standard or law.
Regulatory compliance describes the goal that organisations aspire to achieve in their efforts to ensure that they are aware of and take steps to comply with relevant laws and regulations.
What is the purpose of compliance?
Compliance ensures that an organization has the processes and internal controls to meet the requirements imposed by governmental bodies, regulators, industry mandates or internal policies.
How is compliance achieved?
At an organizational level, compliance is achieved through management processes which identify the applicable requirements (defined for example in laws, regulations, contracts, strategies and policies), assess the state of compliance, assess the risks and potential costs of non-compliance against the projected expenses to achieve compliance, and hence prioritize, fund and initiate any corrective actions deemed necessary.
What is a compliance framework?
Due to the increasing number of regulations and need for operational transparency, organizations are increasingly adopting the use of consolidated and harmonized sets of compliance controls. This approach is used to ensure that all necessary governance requirements can be met without the unnecessary duplication of effort and activity from resources.
A compliance framework is a structured set of guidelines that details an organization's processes for maintaining conformance with established regulations, specifications or legislation. It outlines the regulatory compliance standards relevant to the organization and the business processes and internal controls the organization has in place to adhere to these standards. Such a framework can include communication processes, risk controls and governance practices for maintaining compliance.
ISO 19600:2014 (International Standard for Compliance Management) was released in December 2014, is expected to serve as an international standard and a global benchmark for compliance management programmes. It provides guidance for establishing, developing, implementing, evaluating, maintaining and improving an effective and responsive compliance management system within an organization.
The guidelines on compliance management systems are applicable to all types of organizations. The extent of the application of these guidelines depends on the size, structure, nature and complexity of the organization.
ISO 19600:2014 is based on the principles of good governance, proportionality, transparency and sustainability
The Compliance Institute SA has developed a Generally Accepted Compliance Practice (GACP) framework which consists of principles, standards and guidelines that act as a benchmark for compliance best practice that organisations and their Compliance Officers should apply.
Services
Mzaidume Consulting has extensive expertise and experience in the development of effective compliance management programmes and their review.