Corporate Anti-corruption Compliance

In the last decade, companies around the globe have made significant investment in the development of internal controls, ethics, and compliance programmes. This phenomenon has been largely driven by incentives given by law enforcement agencies as they increasingly evaluate compliance programmes as a potential mitigating or exonerating factor for foreign bribery or related offences. In addition, government agencies also sometimes consider compliance programmes when deciding whether to grant public advantages.

However, assessing the effectiveness of corporate anti-corruption efforts remains a challenge for both governments and companies. It is therefore essential to understand how governments can make accurate assessments to ensure that incentives are given to deserving companies to properly encourage corporate compliance.

A peer-learning community

This initiative developed in cooperation with the UNODC and UNGC brought government experts, including from law enforcement and other government agencies, together with their counterparts from the private sector to:

• Discuss the challenges faced when governments incentivise anti-corruption compliance programmes.

• Identify good practices and other solutions that both governments and companies can use to improve corporate compliance efforts.

The peer-learning community explored existing government incentives for corporate anti-corruption compliance with the aim of updating the UNODC’s 2013 Resource Guide on State Measures for Strengthening Business Integrity. 

The revised Resource Guide highlights the importance of ensuring that governments can accurately assess corporate anti-corruption compliance programmes when granting incentives to promote business integrity and calls for further work to help governments and private sector practitioners identify good practices to measure effective anti-corruption compliance.

• Expert meeting on Government incentives and assessments for promoting corporate anti-corruption compliance – Agenda

• Public-private dialogue on Government incentives and assessments for promoting corporate anti-corruption compliance – Agenda

• Consultation on draft Resource Guide at Private Sector Forum during the Conference of State Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption – Agenda

• Launch of revised Resource Guide on State Measures for Strengthening Business Integrity at the OECD Global Anti-Corruption and Integrity Forum  – Resource Guide and session replay

More resources

• Good Practice Guidance on Internal Controls, Ethics, and Compliance

• 2021 OECD Anti-Bribery Recommendation

• Resource Guide on State Measures for Strengthening Business Integrity

The Promoting Corporate Anti-Corruption Compliance through Government Incentives and Assessment workstream is supported by the US Department of State as part of the Global Initiative to Galvanize the Private Sector as Partners in Combatting Corruption (GPS).