Tone at the Top has become a phrase inculcated in the compliance world. The reason it is so important to any compliance program is because it does actually matter. Any compliance program starts at the top and flows down throughout the company. The concept of appropriate tone at the top is in the US Sentencing Guidelines for organizations accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA); the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) best practices for effective compliance programs which have been released with each Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) over the past year; the UK Bribery Act’s Six Principles of Adequate Procedures; and the OECD Good Practices. The reason all of these guidelines incorporate it into their respective practices is that all employees look to the top of the company to see what is important. Or to quote my colleague Mike Volkov, who quoted Bob Dylan, in opining “You don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”.
Please see full publication below for more information.
