New Deloitte Software Tool Helps Increase Business Partner Transparency and Enhance Regulatory Compliance

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Jun 20, 2011, 09:10 ET

NEW YORK, June 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As the UK Bribery Act, effective July 1, draws near and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement appears to be intensifying, Deloitte has developed a new web-based surveying tool. The software tool is designed to assist multi-national companies in digging deeper into their business partners' backgrounds as they seek to mitigate the risk of violating international and anti-corruption laws.

"For many global organizations traditional due diligence measures are simply no longer scalable or adequate," said Joe Zier, a leader in Deloitte's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act consulting practice group. "We've spent over a year building customizable software that can help our clients identify corruption risks as they conduct due diligence and monitor activities of their numerous business partners."

Deloitte administers and hosts the tool, which features a survey component that enables organizations to systematically gather information that can be used to evaluate their business partners' corporate policies and procedures around ethics, corruption exposure and other compliance-related issues. As survey responses are returned, Deloitte's tool helps companies collect and analyze data in a single dashboard, assessing risk based on previously determined company specific criteria which occurs automatically in the background. The software can be customized to enable surveying and analysis in most languages as well as the collection of multiple types of information to assist in the various diligence processes.

The UK Bribery Act, which makes every country, including the U.S., fair game in corruption violation enforcement activity, in combination with the previously enacted FCPA, continues to elaborate on the theme of enabling regulators to hold companies accountable for the actions of their business partners. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice have also continued to increase focus in this area.

Zier adds, "Companies that go the extra mile when it comes to compliance realize significant future cost savings. Whether by traditional or nontraditional due diligence measures, it is essential that executives know their business partners. Not only will their corporate risk profile benefit, their regulatory compliance framework may now depend on it."

"The new regulatory regime demands a risk-up approach that uses an assessment of the entire population of business partners to determine individual and collective patterns of risk. Where traditionally an organization might have launched its own investigation of business partners' practices, Deloitte's software tool allows clients to gather data through a web-based self-representation survey, customized to suit their specific compliance concerns," says Debra Baker, a leader in Deloitte's forensic & dispute services practice.

For more information on Deloitte's business partner software tool and related services, visit www.deloitte.com/us/compliancerisk.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.