A steep price - taking bribery more seriously

With the OECD pressuring Canada to get tougher on improper payments, days of bribes to foreign public officials may be over. While it seems apparent that countries such as Canada and the UK are finally following the US’s lead and taking bribery more seriously, this comes at a time when companies that are affected by the legislation may not be ready. A survey of UK companies released by Grant Thornton LLP in June 2010 found that more than three-quarters of companies surveyed have not invested in anticorruption strategies to deal with the Bribery Act, leaving many UK companies at unnecessary risk of the act’s harsh penalties. In addition, results “from a recent survey performed by a global business consulting firm discovered that only 50% of senior corporate executives are ‘highly confident’ that their business control systems are managing their organizations’ business risks effectively,’ ” says William Olsen, a principal of Grant Thornton LLP in the US and author of The Anti-Corruption Handbook: How to Protect Your Business in the Global Marketplace. The survey also showed that fewer than 10% rated their control systems “excellent” in providing early warning signs to catastrophic risk. (Read the full article called "A steep price" in CAmagazine online.)