AVOIDING DOMESTIC CORRUPTION PROBLEMS
All organizations, regardless of their size and the industries interact with foreign, federal, state and local governments. Whether an organization does business with a government or is simply regulated by a government, the organization is exposed to the risk of corruption. As a result of media attention to investigations and prosecutions of individuals and organizations for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the need to be aware of the risk of corruption and the need to create and execute internal controls to manage this risk has increased. However, organizations may not pay the same attention to the risk of domestic corruption when working with governments in the U.S.
The U.S. Federal government and most states and some local governments have a complex web of corruption, ethics and conflicts of interest laws in place to assure that governments and government employees operate with objectivity and transparency. These laws cover bribery, gifts, meals, entertainment, lobbying, campaign finance, conflicts of interest and procurement. Identifying the laws that apply to a particular organization and then developing methods to comply with those laws not only protects an organization’s reputation but also, may help avoid costly legal and ethical investigations and prosecutions. This course will provide an overview of some of the applicable laws and regulations to demonstrate how the legal schema to inhibit corruption works and it will provide ideas for developing training, internal controls and contract terms and conditions designed to inform employees and executives and to mitigate the risk of a domestic corruption issue.
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