Preparing your Business for The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement

The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement: A Comprehensive Guide for Raising the Bar to Manage Risk is about the new post-recession world that experienced Enron, a housing market crash, bank “bailouts”, the Shell Oil spill, and countless other moments of “business acting badly”. The book explores how regulations have changed (As you probably guessed, increased!) and how highly regulated business, like the medical industry and financial industry, can proactively manage and address their risks before it's too late.

What is The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement About?

The past few years have seen an erosion in trust for corporate America. Many businesses have been caught red-handed stealing money from customers, lying and using other deceptive practices to gain an unfair advantage. In response, the government has stepped up its efforts to monitor and prosecute businesses. This renewed emphasis has led to a barrage of new laws (Patriot Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Patient Protection, Affordable Care Act, etc.), expansion of departments (like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), and new technology (especially data analytics and social media) to ensure companies are doing what they're supposed to be doing.

Staying on the right side of the law in this chaotically unclear environment is the subject of The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement. Although business owners in highly regulated businesses won't be able to predict the next change in regulations or policies, they can prepare for it. That process begins when a business embraces that risk is a responsibility of the entire business, not just your compliance department or manager. If you own a retail business, the responsibility to avoid risks belongs to everyone at the business, including your frontline employees. If you work in a hospital, adhering to patient privacy laws and policies is important for everyone, not just staff who access patient records.

The book doesn't outline a straightforward approach to dealing with regulations. Rather it offers a framework, the GRC (governance, risk, and compliance) framework. This framework outlines the three areas of risk a business should consider. They are in senior leadership, internal departments and frontline staff. Using the GRC framework moves the conversation of risk from “Let someone else handle that” to “What can we all do to decrease the risk?”

Author Richard H. Girgenti is a leading forensic expert and head of the Forensic Team for KPMG LLP with a 40-year background in fraud investigation and auditing including work as a former state prosecutor and Director of Criminal Justice.

Co-author Timothy P. Headley is a leading forensic and risk management expert who serves as global lead for the risk management team at KPMG LLP with an extensive background in auditing.

In addition, Girgenti and Headley have co-authored a previous book on risk management and fraud.

What Was Best About The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement?

The best part of The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement is the dual focus of the content in the book. The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement simultaneously has a generalist and specialist approach to regulations. For the general readers who need help to assess their risk, the book offers the GRC framework and its underlying principles. For more specific heavily-regulated fields, the book offers specific guidelines on how to decrease risk before anything happens and the potential options that are available after a business is compromised by risk.

What Could Have Been Done Differently?

The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement is almost an encyclopedia of case studies, techniques and recommendations created by seasoned experts in the field. This focus means that the book doesn't detail the basics of compliance or regulation. In other words, it doesn't tell you how to start a compliance program but it will provide guidance on the underlying principles for better odds at managing your business' reputation and money before, during and after potentially risky situation using another 3-step framework mentioned in the book (prevent-detect-respond).

In summary, be prepared to get up close and personal with lots of government-related acronyms.

Why Read The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement?

The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement is a much-needed guide to understanding the dizzying new world of regulation and compliance. If you are employed in a heavily regulated business (such as healthcare, education, international trade or finance) this book will provide the principles that government officials want to see. If you are ever audited or face government monitoring, the information in this book may help you prepare for that day. If you are responsible for any aspect of risk assessment in your business (or nonprofit), this book will outline the specific process that every level of the organization needs to follow to achieve the goal of a workplace culture built on integrity. Building a workplace culture where compliance isn't just accepted but followed with respect and care could be the difference between a million dollar lawsuit and your company being cleared of all wrongdoing.

This article, "Preparing your Business for The New Era of Regulatory Enforcement" was first published on Small Business Trends