Fun­da­men­tals of ef­fec­tive com­p­li­an­ce ma­nage­ment (2014)

The Swiss eco­no­my is high­ly glo­ba­li­sed and its value chains are be­co­m­ing in­cre­a­sin­gly com­plex. This de­ve­lop­ment is ta­king place against a back­ground of in­cre­a­sing go­vern­ment re­gu­la­ti­on and legal en­force­ment. In this en­vi­ron­ment, pro­fes­sio­nal in­te­gri­ty is a fun­da­men­tal prin­ciple of di­li­gent ma­nage­ment. If com­pa­nies want to be suc­cess­ful in the long term, they must fos­ter a cul­tu­re of com­p­li­an­ce. The term “com­p­li­an­ce” ge­ne­ral­ly co­vers the ob­ser­van­ce of legal re­qui­re­ments as well as in­ter­nal be­ha­viou­ral gui­de­li­nes (codes of con­duct, di­rec­tives); no­wa­days, it also ty­pi­cal­ly in­clu­des a com­mit­ment to ac­ting with in­te­gri­ty. Va­rious mea­su­res must be taken at all le­vels (com­p­li­an­ce ma­nage­ment sys­tem) if a com­p­li­an­ce cul­tu­re is to be es­ta­blis­hed in a com­pa­ny. Com­p­li­an­ce is pri­ma­ri­ly the re­sult of ef­fec­tive ma­nage­ment; con­ver­se­ly, com­p­li­an­ce in­frin­ge­ments are often the re­sult of ina­de­qua­te or de­fi­ci­ent ma­nage­ment. The com­p­li­an­ce working group of Swiss­Hol­dings de­ve­l­o­ped the basic ele­ments of an ef­fec­tive com­p­li­an­ce ma­nage­ment sys­tem and pu­blis­hed them wi­t­hin an eco­no­mie­su­is­se po­li­cy do­cu­ment. When the “Swiss Code of Best Prac­tice for Cor­po­ra­te Go­ver­nan­ce” was re­vi­sed, this do­cu­ment was up­dated and re­fe­ren­ced as the “Swiss Gui­de­li­nes for Best Prac­tice in Com­p­li­an­ce Ma­nage­ment”. With sys­te­ma­tic com­p­li­an­ce ma­nage­ment which ade­qua­te­ly co­vers com­pa­ny risks, Swiss com­pa­nies are con­vin­ced that they can avoid sta­tu­to­ry vio­la­ti­ons as far as pos­si­ble, and pro­mo­te pro­fes­sio­nal in­te­gri­ty. Ef­fec­tive com­p­li­an­ce ma­nage­ment is the­re­fo­re an in­dis­pensa­ble com­po­nent of di­li­gent ma­nage­ment. Com­pa­nies cont­ri­bu­te to their so­ci­al re­s­pon­si­bi­li­ty through good com­p­li­an­ce and ac­ting with in­te­gri­ty.