For small and medium enterprises (SMEs), compliance feels like a lonely climb up a steep mountain. Costs are high, rules are constantly evolving, and there is pressure to cut corners to keep pace. Standing alone, an ethical SME can lose when competing with actors who ignore the rules.

Surveys are a tool that allows compliance and ethics professionals to understand the effectiveness of an integrity program. They provide insights on how comfortable employees feel speaking up, how they view integrity successes, and identify emerging challenges. They are a way to signal that your company operates with integrity and is less of a risk for potential partners and collaborators. Paired with other monitoring tools, their insights are both powerful and essential...

Leveraging SMES compliance and integrity advantages is both strategic and necessary for MNCs. MNCs have large and uniform integrity programs that drive compliance. However, Home Office compliance teams may be slower to respond to emerging risks. SMEs can help MNCs improve their knowledge and response time to emerging risks as they have agility, a local perspective, and can serve as an early warning system for MNC integrity systems...

The compliance field often positions small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as too small for compliance. MNCs may view SMEs as high risk and the weakest link in a compliance program. This series will challenge that perspective by building off discussions on how SMEs can build imperfect integrity programs and thrive while building integrity into their operations with fewer resources. And will take an in-depth look at how SMEs engage in effective compliance and build meaningful in

Thankfully, technology can help with many of these pivots in compliance plans—keeping you on track and efficient—allowing time to still focus on pressing compliance concerns throughout the year.

Compliance teams operating globally must navigate both international anti-corruption regulations and local laws. The UK Bribery Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) provide bright-line rules. However, real world interactions are often more complex and do not neatly align with rules. In some places, offering a small favor or a gift is a sign of hospitality and respect, not an attempt to create undue influence.