Legal professionals and management teams in highly regulated industries – including financial services, health care, and manufacturing – must ensure that they are maintaining compliance with all applicable regulations. While federal and state regulations may seem onerous, these requirements are in place to protect consumers. As such, compliance is not optional, and non-compliance comes with potentially significant penalties and risks.
Maintaining compliance requires understanding the framework of rules to which the business is subject and taking steps to proactively address and mitigate risk. The following best practices may help your organization meet its compliance requirements, regardless of your industry:
- Designate a responsible party. Some industries mandate the appointment of a chief compliance officer, chief risk officer, or some similar position. Even if your industry does not require a designee for compliance purposes, naming someone and empowering them to manage your firm’s compliance program is a best practice.
- Formalize policies and procedures. Using applicable regulatory requirements as a guide, create policies and procedures for your organization, documenting which area or department of the company is responsible for carrying out each procedure. While you may have the opportunity to purchase ready-made policies and procedure manuals created for companies in your industry, it is important to tailor them to your company.
- Create a risk inventory. Look closely at each area of your company’s operations, including sales, marketing, product manufacturing (if applicable), distribution, finance, technology, etc. Identify areas that could potentially be sources of risk for the organization.
- Review controls. What measures do you have in place already to address potential risks? Is your company following its policies and procedures? Document your controls and evaluate their continued adequacy. Adjust risk mitigation efforts as needed. Periodic (i.e., annual or quarterly) reviews of controls may make sense in some industries, whereas others may benefit from more frequent reviews and updates.
- Train employees. Employees and contractors cannot comply with established policies and procedures if they do not understand what is required of them. Make sure your company’s initial and ongoing training and communications are designed to help workers meet both job requirements and compliance expectations.
Baer Reed offers a variety of business and legal services designed to support organizations in highly regulated industries maintain compliance controls and build efficiencies. Contact us today to discuss how our team can help.
Mr. Reyes graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University, where he received the Procter and Gamble Student Excellence Award. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the Ateneo de Manila School of Law. During law school, Mr. Reyes was part of the Philippine delegation to the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot held in Vienna, Austria. He was also a member of the Ateneo Society of International Law and the St. Thomas More Debate Society. He completed his internship at the Public Attorney’s Office. He wrote a thesis entitled: “To Kill A White Elephant: An Analysis of the Fiduciary Exception to the Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege”. Mr. Reyes is admitted to practice law in the Philippines and the State of New York.
Ms. Lardizabal-Manzano is a graduate of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, where she earned her B.A. in Political Science. In 2003, she received her law degree from Lyceum of the Philippines and was admitted to practice law in 2004.
Matthew Hersh earned a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1990 and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1999. He also holds a master’s degree in international relations from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Cap. Avi Levak (Res. IDF) graduated from from Israel’s prestigious Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics. He is also a Leadership and Communication coach trained in TuT coaching by Alon gal in Israel. Avi specializes in high-level, in-depth analysis of business and client needs, within systems and software strategy and architecture.
Ms. Tyler graduated cum laude from Georgetown University and received her law degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, she interned at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. She also worked on The Tax Lawyer journal and was a member of the award-winning Barristers’ Council Mock Trial Team. Ms. Tyler is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the District of Columbia.
Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo graduated cum laude and top nine in her batch from Miriam College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in InternationalStudies. She obtained her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in Rockwell. During law school, she interned in Rivera, Santos, Maranan & Associates. She was also part of Ateneo’s Labor Law Bar Operations. She wrote her thesis on, “Stealing Privacy: Limitations on Media’s Photographic Invasion.,” Ms. Cruz-Anonuevo is admitted to practice law in the Philippines.
Ms. Aquino-Batallones obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies (with Minors in Global Politics and Hispanic Studies) from the Ateneo de Manila University. In 2011, she received her Juris Doctor degree from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. During law school, she interned at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & de los Angeles then became an intern of Ateneo Legal Services Center’s Clinical Legal Education Program.
Mr. De Guzman graduated from San Beda College with a degree of Bachelor of Arts Major in Economics and received his law degree from San Beda College of Law. He is multilingual and is fluent in three languages: Chinese, Filipino, and English. He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 2003.