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While U.S. based organisations continue their global expansion and collaborate with new partners abroad, corporate executives and directors must remain alert to avoid potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”). Enacted in 1977, the FCPA restricts U.S. corporations and nationals from giving money or any items of value to a foreign official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. It also mandates that publicly-listed corporations maintain internal controls that accurately reflect foreign transactions and to confirm all transactions comply with the FCPA. Many other jurisdictions have enacted similar anti-bribery legislation.
International Risk is uniquely qualified to help clients develop and independently monitor the necessary internal controls to comply with FCPA or similar legislation, and to investigate suspected violations. This is especially relevant in Asia, where attitudes towards corruption can be quite different culturally, as confirmed annually by Transparency International rankings.
Our Approach
International Risk professionals are highly adept at discovering and analysing the most sophisticated breaches of internal controls, unwinding complicated transactions and reconstructing events from incomplete information or corrupt data. We begin the process by investigating the financial data to discover how and when a suspicious event or transaction took place, which will facilitate clients’ response to allegations, preparation for third party audits, and designing controls and systems to prevent future occurrences.
Data Forensics
In-depth computer forensic expertise is essential to the investigation or discovery process as a majority of business documents nowadays is stored in electronic format. Using state-of-the-art forensic and data mining tools, International Risk investigators and forensic accounting professionals work closely with our in-house data forensic experts to collect large volumes of electronic data (including e-mail, voice mail, shared server files and databases) to analyse complicated transactions and secure vital evidence.
Development, Implementation and Monitoring of Internal Control Systems
International Risk professionals offer best practice advice and recommendations on systems that will be most effective across your organisation, to prevent and detect any irregularities that may lead to breaches of the FCPA or similar provisions. In addition to our extensive experience in developing manuals, training, monitoring and whistleblower systems, we can also provide advice on existing systems, particularly if clients require effective and workable solutions specific to the cultural paradigms of Asia.
Investigations
- Fact-finding investigations to obtain critical evidence and identify relevant individuals, including witness interviews
- Forensic accounting reviews of books, accounting records and other financial data to determine the extent and financial implications of suspicious activities
- Research and advisory services to support preliminary accounting and reporting positions
- Assist in responding to subpoenas and requests for information
- Electronic discovery of deleted and corrupted data, as well as data reconstruction
- Document production support
- Preparation of formal reports to regulators and law enforcement
- Assist with settlement negotiations
Internal Controls
- Design and implementation of internal controls to prevent breaches of the FCPA or similar legislation
- Independent internal controls reviews on FCPA or equivalent compliance systems
- Monitoring and internal review testing of policies and procedures pursuant to settlement agreements
Due Diligence
- Pre-transaction due diligence reviews to assess potential risks of buying into questionable entities, focusing on off-balance sheet issues including those related to FCPA (non) compliance and potential future exposure to FCPA or similar breaches based on less than arms length relationships between parties
- Review of written policies and procedures to ensure compliance with applicable regulations
- Review of subsidiaries, joint ventures and other controlled entities for appropriate internal controls
- Review of consultants, agents, resellers, distributors and other third-party representatives
- Review of customer lists for foreign government or foreign official involvement and ownership interests
Risk Assessments
- Analysis and identification of key risks for each foreign operating division, sales region or defined entity
- Testing of gaps in the compliance program and design of appropriate internal controls to mitigate these risks
- Recommendation of solutions including restructuring and other policy changes
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