why are compliance and enforcement procedures necessary? course hero

What is the purpose of developing compliance policies and procedures?

Developing Compliance Policies and Procedures. Compliance policy and procedure documents are the foundation of any compliance program, both in terms of organization and management of the program. These document also facilitate compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards by compliance high risk operational areas.

What is the importance of an effective compliance program?

An effective compliance program safeguards the organization , legal responsibility to abide by applicable laws and regulations.

Do you need a code of Conduct for compliance programs?

That assertion may make attorneys uncomfortable, but for compliance programs to have real impact, managers need to test what works and what doesn’t. This will require firms to engage in some experimentation and innovation. Codes of conduct should articulate policies that are core to a firm’s success.

What do the DOJ and USSC expect from compliance programs?

The DOJ and USSC guidelines expect effective compliance programs to hold individuals accountable for violations.

What is compliance policy?

Compliance policy and procedure documents are the foundation of any compliance program, both in terms of organization and management of the program. These document also facilitate compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards by compliance high risk operational areas.

What is the OIG compliance program?

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a number of compliance program guidance documents, all of which stresses the importance of written compliance guidance for employees . The OIG notes that “At a minimum, comprehensive compliance programs should include…the development and distribution of written standards of conduct, as well as written policies and procedures that promote the [organization’s] commitment to compliance and that address specific areas of potential fraud, such as claims development and submission processes, code gaming, and financial relationships with physicians and other health care professionals.” [2] The United States Sentencing Commission “Federal Sentencing Guidelines” notes “have an effective compliance and ethics program.., an organization shall…shall establish standards and procedures to prevent and detect criminal conduct.”

How to make a policy document user friendly?

Make documents user friendly to those that have to live by them. Make sure the policy does not conflict with other policy documents. Cross reference all policies to similar ones. Define all key terms used in the document. Anchor the document in cited authority.

Why do compliance managers use surveys?

Compliance managers often rely on surveys to assess the performance of their programs. For instance, to gauge employee comfort with reporting mechanisms, a firm might ask: “Do you know when to seek compliance advice? Are you willing to do so?” The challenge with surveys is that self-reporting and self-selection by the respondents may bias the results and lead managers to draw incorrect conclusions. Employees who have observed dishonest behavior, for example, may be reluctant to “out” their colleagues and may choose not to answer related survey questions, which will skew the results toward employees who have not observed wrongdoing. Similarly, people in senior positions and those who actually do engage in misconduct may be less inclined to participate. Thus, bias in the data collected needs to be accounted for when interpreting the metrics.

Can a firm design a compliance program without measurement?

At its core, the idea is as simple as it is crucial: Firms cannot design effective compliance programs without effective measurement tools. For many firms, appropriate measurement can spur the creation of leaner and ultimately more-effective compliance programs.

How to ensure compliance with policies and procedures?

To ensure compliance with policies and procedures, make sure that you deliver them to your employees through vessels they are comfortable with. A benefit to meeting with your divisional leaders is that you can leverage more information from them, including how the policies will be best received.

How to create a policy and procedure?

1. Meet with divisional leaders to ensure the policies and procedures being created are feasible for individual departments. 2. Determine the best format of policies for your different audiences. 3. Make Policies and Procedures easily accessible to your employees. 4.

How many clicks should an employee find policies?

Not only should you spend time ensuring that the organization of your policies and procedures makes logical sense, you should also make sure that an employee from any department, and any level of management, should be able to find the policies that apply to them within 3 clicks.

What are some examples of vessel requirements?

Examples of different vessel requirements include situations where employees do not access computers during the work day but may have a company smart phone, making them a better candidate for a video presentation of their policies and procedures.

What is policy in an organization?

Policies are often created by someone within an organization that does not have a comprehensive understanding of the daily tasks within each department. Involving others, even if just for a 30 minute interview surrounding a policy, ensures that the new policies: Are not misunderstood. Use the correct terminology.

Does establishing effective policies and procedures begin and end with regulations?

Establishing effective policies and procedures does not begin and end with regulations. It takes the right amount of collaboration, the right types of distributive mediums, and the right methods to measure understanding. All of these things take an enormous amount of time and energy, but automating them with a software solution can increase ...

What is compliance monitoring?

Compliance monitoring is one of the key components EPA uses to ensure that the regulated community obeys environmental laws and regulations. It encompasses all regulatory agency activities performed to determine whether a facility (or group of facilities, such as plants related geographically, by sector, or corporate structure) ...

What is EPA compliance?

EPA provides compliance incentives and auditing to encourage facilities to find and disclose violations to the Agency. Violations may also be discovered from tips/complaints received by the Agency from the public. Violations discovered as a result of any of these activities may lead to civil or criminal enforcement.

What is PCE in FCE?

A PCE is a documented compliance assessment focusing on a subset of regulated pollutants, regulatory requirements, or emission units at a given facility. A PCE should be more comprehensive than a cursory review of individual reports.

What is the purpose of the EPA's environmental audit protocol?

In addition, EPA developed a series of Environmental Audit Protocols to assist the regulated community in developing self-audit programs at individual facilities for evaluating their compliance with the environmental requirements under the federal laws and regulations.

What is an FCE?

An FCE is a comprehensive evaluation of the compliance status of the facility. It looks for all regulated pollutants at all regulated emission units, and it addresses the compliance status of each unit, as well as the facility’s continuing ability to maintain compliance at each emission unit. An FCE includes:

How long does it take to complete a civil investigation?

Civil investigations are an extraordinary, detailed assessment of a regulated entity’s compliance status, which requires significantly more time to complete than a typical compliance inspection (i.e., several weeks, as compared with one or a few days).

When is an information request warranted?

Information requests may be warranted when there is: an inspection, site investigation, or record review suggests the potential for serious, widespread, and/or continuing civil or criminal violations, a continuing pattern of non-compliance by a facility, a referral from another agency,