Essentials of Enterprise Compliance

Chapter 4. Exploring the Potential

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

• Review how a compliance framework can enhance enterprise compliance.

• Evaluate the benefits of controls.

• Understand how technology is a critical component of an effective compliance effort.

Few business issues are higher profile than compliance. As we have noted, the number and scope of compliance regulations have increased dramatically over the last few years, making compliance an increasingly complex business and technology challenge. Whether aimed to prevent fraud and money laundering, to combat international terrorism, or to ensure financial accountability and privacy, a kaleidoscope of international, federal, and state regulations—such as the USA PATRIOT Act, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), Basel II, Bank of England, Bank Secrecy Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and others—dramatically impacts how companies do business.

To be successful, organizations that are serious about compliance must also be serious about data quality because at the core of any reliable compliance program is quality data. Ideally, an organization's compliance software will provide specialized data quality and matching capabilities as part of an all-encompassing enterprise compliance and case-management solution.

Organizations that have pieced together their compliance process should carefully review its design and audit its results to ensure that the process that has developed over time is up to the task ...