In this article, we provide some of the background to the Compliance HUB- an expert Compliance Management System – why we are doing what we are doing, and how our Compliance HUB will benefit you.
The Cost of Regulation
Regulation can operate as a support and a constraint. If you ask any business owner to name barriers to their business, regulation will undoubtedly be high on the list.
Regulation is a multi-billion dollar burden on businesses around the world. In Australia alone, Deloitte has put the total cost of compliance for Australia’s economy at $250 billion a year. Deloitte estimates that businesses spend $95 billion a year in an effort to comply with regulation. The typical method of managing regulation involves human capital and external spending on consultants and lawyers.
Continued Compliance Failures
Despite such significant spend, we continue to see high-profile compliance failures, including at top financial institutions and in our largest businesses. While these businesses invest in compliance, they lack an expert Compliance Management System.
Often these failures are not a result of a lack of spending or resources; they are a result of a failure to embed compliance in all areas of a business and a failure of culture.
Regulatory compliance is usually put in the too hard basket and left in dusty documented procedures and policies (in someone’s safe or desk). We have greater access to information than ever before but are still lacking the methods and tools to put information to use.
“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom” – Edward Wilson, Biologist
The price of failure (for any type of business) is significant:
- During 2015–16, ASIC completed 1,441 high-intensity surveillances and 175 investigations. ASIC secured 22 criminal convictions and of those 13 resulted in a custodial sentence.
- During 2015–16, the ACCC was involved in 48 consumer protection court cases (19 new proceedings) resulting in penalties of more than $15 million.
The Compliance HUB- our expert Compliance Management System
The Compliance HUB is an expert Compliance Management System has been designed to make it easier for businesses to comply and to reduce the likelihood of compliance failure. We do this in several ways:
Firstly, we bring compliance online. By doing so, we ensure that your compliance program can be built over time, reducing the risk that documents are lost. One of the most significant risks with a traditional compliance program is the loss of knowledge acquired and built upon by key individuals.
The compliance portal ensures that knowledge is captured and stored correctly. No more lost documents, no more lost deadlines.
Secondly, we open up access to tools such as automation. Automation allows us to link controls to regulatory obligations and thereby reduce risk. Automation allows us to build in work-flows that are critical to compliance. Our online compliance training is kept up to date and a central register of those who have completed training, significantly improves access to compliance resources across an organisation. Automation is also used in our document review tool. Our document review tool reduces complex review work from hours to a mere 14 seconds.
Lastly, we ensure that our tools are easy to use and relevant helping you embed compliance process across your business.
We would be delighted to demonstrate our Compliance HUB to you today. Contact us today.
