Analyst firm Forrester describes 2009 as the year that governance, risk and compliance “hit the big time”.¹ 

On the back of the economic implosion triggered by the global financial crisis, the minds of the world’s political, corporate, and economic leaders have turned to creating a business framework – some have argued, one global set of rules – that is less exposed to risk, and in which the regulators are less likely to be taken by surprise.

One thing is clear: businesses will face increasing pressure to develop process and technology strategies that respond to evolving governance standards. PolicyPoint provides both the process and technology.

By assuring that your staff has an ongoing, full understanding of how they must behave, PolicyPoint supports governance in two ways: firstly, by reducing the likelihood of employees contravening policies because they didn’t know them.

Secondly, using PolicyPoint can potentially help reduce the organisation’s liability for the consequences of any rogue acts, because PolicyPoint users can demonstrate that they have taken steps to embed an organisation-wide culture of compliance.

The importance of such a culture of compliance in the Australian context, for instance, is evident in statements from ASIC that it will usually use the standard AS3806 (which deals with implementing a culture of compliance) as a guide when judging FSI licensee’s compliance arrangements².

PolicyPoint helps organisations implement the measures that underpin the Australian standard for creating a culture of compliance, Standard AS3806.

PolicyPoint relates particularly to AS3806’s Section 3, which stipulates that that “Appropriate resources are allocated to develop, implement, maintain and improve the compliance program.”  It also addresses the part of Section 4 that relates to ensuring that, in addressing staff training, there is sufficient flexibility to account for a range of techniques to accommodate the differing needs of the organisation and employees.

Regardless of whether your organisation is seeking to achieve the AS 3806 standard, or simply to achieve governance standards that are appropriate to your stakeholders and industry, PolicyPoint is a provides you a robust tool for rapidly embedding – and, as required, updating – your key staff members’ awareness and understanding of their governance obligations.

The result is:

• Cost-effective, automatic management of staff education on key policies and procedures
• Stronger, organisation-wide insight into regulatory requirements
• Reduced risk of adverse events
• Reduced exposure to the consequences of errant behaviour

Citations

¹ McLean, C. with Tiazkun, S, McNabb, K and Dill, A: “Trends 2009: The Year Governance, Risk and Compliance Hit the Big Time”, available www.forrester.com
² Johnstone, R and Sarre, R (eds): “Regulation: enforcement and compliance”, for the Australian Institute of Criminology, available www.aic.gov.au/publications