For the past two decades, compliance has been defined by scale. Robust programs, multilayered policies, and sophisticated monitoring tools are all hallmarks of a well-managed compliance program. Yet, as this series revealed, resiliency is not a result of size but rather a product of connection. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of many economies, can leverage their small size into an advantage. These SMEs will shape the future of compliance.

In past decades, there have been a number of protest movements driven to a large extent by public anger about corruption and poor economic governance which brought down governments, including Georgia’s Rose Revolution, Ukraine’s EuroMaidan and the Tunisian Revolution. Recent years have seen mass protest movements in Asia in particular connected to economic grievances, such as the 2022 Aragalaya in Sri Lanka...

In Part One of this series, we explored how the investigation into Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance at the 2021 Met Gala unfolded, and what it revealed about the burdens, inconsistencies, and reputational risks of regulatory reviews. While the ultimate outcome was limited to additional payments, the years-long process underscored the steep costs of even minor compliance missteps.

Last month, the bipartisan House Ethics Committee wrapped up a long-running investigation into to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance at the Met Gala in September, 2021, concluding that she did not pay enough for a custom-made dress she rented for the event – thereby making it a prohibited gift...

Strong corporate governance, business ethics and robust compliance, underpinned by clear laws and effective enforcement, are critical to combat corruption. However, in its seminal 2008 Fighting Corruption through Collective Action: A Guide for Business, the World Bank Institute documented “a third area”: tools “that allow companies to come together collectively and voluntarily to raise practice standards and to reduce corruption,” including “integrity pacts…

In a previous piece about my conversation with Leslie Tsai, Director of Integrity Programs at the Chandler Foundation, I covered the Foundation’s unique anti-corruption work with the International Monetary Fund. In this second of this two-part series, I share some of Tsai’s broader reflections about how to increase collaboration between the anti-corruption community and philanthropists.