The term “compliance” is associated with the U.S. financial sector and affected areas of high risk
with reference to insider trading and conflicts of interest. In Germany, compliance structures have
been developed since the 1990s due to legislative requirements that apply to all the banks and
insurance companies.
In Accordance With Established Guidelines
Compliance has been defined as “either a state of being in accordance with established
guidelines, specifications, or legislation or the process of [implementation].” As a legal concern,
compliance generally refers to behavior as it conforms to legislative provisions, such as those of
the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002.
Compliance in a regulatory context is an important issue for businesses, perhaps because the
number of regulations is increasing and companies often do not understand what they must do to be
in compliance with new laws. For example, SOX was passed to protect shareholders and the general
public from accounting errors and fraudulent practices such as those carried out by Enron and
WorldCom. As corporate managers have become more and more concerned with compliance issues,
businesses have begun using specialized software, consulting with compliance experts, and even
instituting a new corporate position of chief compliance officer (CCO).
Meanwhile, compliance structures and processes, developed in response to increasing
regulatory requirements for listed companies, are helping industrial companies prevent specific
business risks. The Compliance Department also covers the ethical conduct of a company’s own
compliance and other non-statutory regulations. On financial markets, compliance can build
confidence for the capital markets and their participants. Insider trading should be prevented.
Should be!
A Must For Stock Listed Companies
Large corporations take compliance issues very seriously — especially since some of them
were involved in costly corruption issues. In 2006, it was revealed that Siemens AG was keeping
black accounts — that is, an alternate set of books under the table. Employees of the industrial
group corrupted business partners in order to win contracts. When this news emerged to the public,
Siemens had to pay a high price: The forfeits in the United States and Germany amounted to 1.2
billion euros. The damage to the company’s image was huge, too. Siemens learned its lesson:
Hundreds of employees are now working in the compliance department.
Big Textile Companies Involved
In the meantime, compliance standards also have reached the textile machinery manufacturers.
For example, both big Swiss textile machinery producers — Rieter Management AG and OC Oerlikon AG —
are working strictly according to compliance rules or to the so-called “code of conduct.” In
Rieter’s annual report, it is mentioned that “Rieter revised its Code of Conduct in the year under
review (2011), taking into account customers’ current requirements and the OECD [Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development] guidelines for companies operating internationally. The code
of conduct remains an integral part of the contract of employment. Members of top management were
again examined in the year under review. In this way Rieter ensures that all those in positions of
leadership are also familiar with the principles of conduct and communicate them to their
employees.”
On the other hand, the Oerlikon Group mentions in its annual report for 2011 that “the basis
of the Group’s compliance program is the Oerlikon Code of Conduct introduced in 2009. The code
serves as the compass for our employees, pointing the way to responsible, ethically and legally
proper behavior in their everyday business dealings.
“Oerlikon undertook extensive steps in 2011 to further integrate compliance into its
corporate culture and business processes. An important addition to our current policy is the new
whistle blowing hotline — which was set up early in the year to serve as an additional reporting
channel for potential irregularities. … [Four hundred] managers received comprehensive ethics
training as part of a Group-wide program, the main goal of which was to increase awareness and to
teach the correct approach when facing this compliance risk. The training was focused on
international and regional anti-corruption regulations and on Oerlikon’s own anti-corruption
policy.”
Suppliers Are Involved
The compliance rules of the big companies extend increasingly to their suppliers. As
Oerlikon states in its 2011 report: “To further increase the transparency of Oerlikon’s working
relationships and minimize potential third-party compliance risks, a process for business partner
due diligence was introduced in 2011. Under this process, an exhaustive integrity review is
conducted before Oerlikon enters into business relationships with third parties. The results of
these comprehensive background checks are carefully reviewed and form the basis of Oerlikon’s
decision to enter any working relationship.”
More Efforts Necessary?
It is understandable that company executives don’t like the issue of compliance. Too much
work, they say. However, compliance specialists warn strongly not to underestimate the risk of
violations of law. Thus, for example, the risk to get into a bribery scandal has increased
tremendously. Especially the United States and the United Kingdom have issued sharp anti-corruption
laws.
Consequences
Coming back to textiles, Oerlikon further writes: “All alerts [undertaken by Oerlikon] are
carefully examined. Should any allegations be substantiated, a thorough investigation will be
launched. The focus of such an investigation is twofold: first, to identify and correct wrong doing
and, second, to uncover possible weaknesses in processes or organization and to introduce
improvements.”
As a consequence, in 2011, the company reported taking disciplinary steps in five compliance
violation cases: “[Seventeen] alerts to potential compliance cases were received through the
various reporting channels in 2011 — five more than in the previous year. … These actions
included letters of reprimand, dismissals and, in one case, charges against a former employee.”
To summarize these entire costly activities, one could say what many fathers have told their
young children: “Behave!”
April 10, 2012