Analytics Can Detect FCPA And Other Risks

The DOJ and SEC are imposing record penalties and settlements under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, including a record-breaking $772 million penalty to resolve bribery charges against French power and transportation company Alstom S.A., in 2014. The agencies have indicated that they intend to step up the investigation of individuals with respect to the FCPA and other laws governing corporate behavior.

Over the years, corporations have handled enterprise risk management responsibilities by relying on policies, procedures, risk committees, audits and task forces. These approaches remain critical, but due to globalization and new technology they are increasingly falling short.

Many organizations already have requisite risk management technology in-house, even if they currently are not exploiting its full potential. For example, organizations with e-discovery technology can gather keywords, concepts, and metadata to construct a profile of documents requiring closer scrutiny. Then, they can use e-mail communication visualization, along with predictive, concept and relationship analytics, to segment the small percent of documents that indicate a potential compliance problem. They can then apply advanced analytics to refine their searches, and create “heat maps” of activity.

Once general counsel recognize the value of these tools, they can use them not only to root out corruption, but to examine data for violations of other laws, regulations and industry standards. With advanced analytics, unstructured data such as e-mail transforms from a treasure trove of information for regulatory agencies into a rich risk-management resource.