The Compliance Revolution: How Compliance Needs to Change to Survive

Acknowledgments

The concepts and tools here are the product of a long and almost continual internal conversation, informed by endless field testing on firms, sectors, and industries in different jurisdictions. The thesis does not draw heavily on any existing body of work or adopt a particular philosophic position, but picks, jackdaw-like, from a wide selection of relevant sources and examples—we hope constructed to form an elegant whole.

Many say ethics and compliance are important but few wish to think very deeply, and would rather be told. This is, of course, part of the problem we address. Some elements are pioneering and ahead of their time but many are now, pleasingly, embedded in the mainstream. This book weaves these threads together and provides an opportunity to look into the distance once again.

Places have been more yielding. Much of this text has been composed during wanderings in Easedale, which the poet Thomas de Quincy correctly called “paradise in miniature.” Inspiration has also come from Edinburgh, Singapore, Dublin, Sligo, and Shrewsbury.

I am grateful for the support of Geoffrey Rowell, Howard Davies, Phillip Thorpe, Sue Proudfoot, Cameron Butland, British Standards (BSi), PayPlan Ltd., Patricia Lee, and many classes of students.

Finally, I am indebted to Alexander for his incisive editing, and my wife, who is better qualified in these areas than most of us.