IWS Documented News INTERNATIONAL

IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________

 

PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC)

 

Corruption Crackdown*: How the FCPA is changing the way the world does business

http://www.pwc.com/us/en/foreign-corrupt-practices-act/publications/corruption-summary-download.jhtml
or
http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/foreign-corrupt-practices-act/publications/assets/pwc-corruption-crackdown-fcpa-2009.pdf
[full-text, 48 pages]

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations and enforcement actions have spiked in the last several years. Penalties have grown appreciably, with the largest settlement to-date reaching $1.6 billion and criminal prosecutions landing executives in jail. This new anticorruption era is forcing companies to change their behaviors to adapt to greater financial and reputational risks. How well companies prepare for geopolitical risk and anticorruption compliance could make or break the viability of doing business in a desired region. Companies that commit to competing internationally need to build in aggressive and thorough anticorruption compliance measures, especially in monitoring contracts, M&A due diligence and budgets -- thus guarding against risks of unpredictable employee behavior in all corners of the world where companies do business.

 

With cross-border business becoming more integral to the growth of US companies, there is much that companies can and should do to mitigate risks, particularly when carrying out due diligence before entering into business combinations and hiring third-party agents, consultants and suppliers. Also, companies need to prepare so that if corruption issues do arise, they are able to act swiftly and collaborate openly with regulators to minimize the potentially devastating effects that full-blown prosecutions can cause.

 

Table of Contents
The heart of the matter 2

Anticorruption compliance rises on the boardroom agenda.

An in-depth discussion 4

Enforcement wave puts companies on notice.

Anticorruption trends

FCPA enforcement actions strong in 2008, large backlog into 2009 5

Proceedings against individuals, voluntary disclosures persist 9

Resolution trends: deferred prosecutions,

disgorgement, forfeiture, remedial actions 13

Investigation domino effect 14

US regulators in corruption battle for long term, with long reach 20

Breaking an old habit

Global drivers of the anticorruption era 21

When zero enforcement actions raise red flags 25

Companies encountering graft 30

Closing the gap between knowledge and action 32

What this means for your business 38

Corporate accountability in the new anticorruption era.

Building a strong anticorruption program amidst new risks Navigating the gray areas of FCPA 40

 

________________________________________________________________________

This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

****************************************
Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
****************************************