Essential Functions of an Ethics and Compliance Officer.

You get traveling down the right road if you have a legal compliance program and an ethics program that does the following items. Do you have a combined legal compliance and ethics program in which you have confidence these things are being accomplished?

I am sometimes asked for a job description or a core list what an ethics and compliance officer does.  The following list is not exclusive, and it is not the list applicable to all corporationsAn Ethics Officer and a Legal Compliance Officer (or a combination office) should have the ability, resources, and authority to:

• Maintain a working knowledge of relevant regulatory issues, of professional or industry substantive codes, and of federal and state laws and regulations
• Maintain a working knowledge of relevant ethics issues, of professional or industry ethics codes, and of ethics conflicts resolution techniques.
• Develop / implement / maintain the compliance program
• Establish a compliance focal point
• Develop / implement / maintain Standards of Conduct, related procedures
• Train affected parties.  There are two aspects on which employees need training.  The first is legal compliance training. Employees need training on what the legal rules are and how to comply with them.  They need tools and procedures that ensure that when an employee leaves then his/her replacement can step in seamlessly.  The second is ethics training.  An employee handbook is not an ethics program.
• Establish reporting channels for employees to use without fear of retaliation
• Monitor the compliance plan for periodic updates when needed
• Reports to the highest level of corporate governance the effectiveness and operation of the compliance and ethics program, in compliance with the standards of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
• Coordinate/conduct investigations to resolve compliance issues
• Establish / monitor controls for an effective compliance program
• Establish procedures and do the needed compliance reporting 
• Oversee compliance investigations with company  attorney and human resources personnel.
• Respond appropriately if a violation is uncovered, internally (by management or employee) or externally (by government  or media).

Let me give you one tiny example of an essential function of a chief compliance officer.  The task to "establish reporting channels for employees to use without fear of retaliation" includes providing that anonymous reporting gets proper attention.  It is not enough for an employee or low level manager to report, the reports need evaluation and action by someone other than the person who may be the subject of a reported ethics or legal violation.  Perhaps your company compliance officer will suggest that you use a company like Reportit, or Silent Whistle, which are examples of a third party provider that provides the sSilent Whistle by Allegiance, Inc. - Anonymous Feedback Solutionsecurity of anonymity to the reporting employee while delivering helpful information to the company.  The details of getting governmentally mandated  "reporting channels for employees to use without fear of retaliation" in place takes time, effort, and thought by your compliance officer.