THE AESTHETICS OF COMPLIANCE
Is compliance boring? The question may seem provocative – perhaps even tongue-in-cheek – but there is a seriousness behind it. Corporate compliance programmes must be effective, and effectiveness is rarely the product of disengagement. Individual and institutional commitments to ethical business must be more than window dressing, and precautionary measures more than tedious box-ticking. Most pragmatically, compliance programmes must be ‘well-designed’, as necessitated by the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs. Good design and effective delivery implies not just efficacy and efficiency, but also aesthetics and engagement.
The point is easy to lose sight of. The concept of compliance entails conforming to a set of bureaucratically established technical specifications. The word conveys little sense of creativity, initiative or exuberance.
Semantics aside, anti-bribery compliance, for example, has evolved into a nobler set of associations. Compliance prevents illicit activity, it levels the economic playing field, it protects the integrity of civic institutions, it makes the world a better place. The fight against corruption is a worthy cause, deserving ample investment and attention, and the compliance function is a critical weapon in that fight.
But high-minded intentions can be undermined by inadequate procedures, and inspirational pronouncements can fall upon cynical ears. Compliance ideals need well-designed programmes to reinforce them.
There is no shortage of advice or analysis regarding the elements of a well-designed compliance programme, including from anti-bribery enforcement authorities. While a compliance programme must be legally defensible, companies should avoid approaching it as a ‘check-the-box’ exercise. The DOJ even emphasises that its “sample topics and questions […] form neither a checklist nor a formula”. Creating a compliance programme that works in practice requires a significant measure of judgment, even artistry. Basic elements of aesthetics can bolster the design and delivery of a corporate compliance programme.
Oct-Dec 2021 Issue
TRACE