Businesses don't have integrity

Compliance is a profession which is guided by integrity.

I’ve said it before, I say it again, ‘Compliance’ is not a business decision maker. We do not ‘vote’ on the direction businesses take, we can’t, but we are there to challenge, to advise and highlight the risks.

To use our knowledge, skills and experience with honesty, clarity and openness.

Herein lies our work and also our problem, our dichotomy and our vulnerability.

Let’s pause…

If ‘Compliance’ is not a business decision maker, but as we know are held accountable by regulators for the decisions made, we have to trust those who make them. When we don’t, we have a problem, and in my experience, it’s our biggest exposure.

In these circumstances, we do have choices, we do have options; this is what I think they are:

Be firm and present your views clearly, for and on the record

Open yourselves to those who make decisions and declare both your position stance and the business’s vulnerability

Listen, respond and be supple to others’ opinions

Think, take time and then decide.

Remember, businesses can’t have integrity, only people can.