Last week Wal-Mart released this Global Compliance Program Report on FY 2014.
The report covered a number of topics including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related anti-corruption matters. As previously disclosed (see here for the prior post), Wal-Mart details that in FY 2014 it has spent in excess of “$109 million on enhancements to its global anti-corruption compliance program and financial controls.”
This significant investment in FCPA compliance should be relevant as a matter of law in the future if a non-executive employee or agent acts contrary to Wal-Mart’s policies and procedures and in violation of the FCPA. (See my article “Revisiting a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Compliance Defense“).
Compliance defense detractors say that such a defense will promote “check-a-box compliance” and a “race to the bottom.”
There is nothing “check-a-box” about spending $109 million on FCPA compliance enhancements in one year nor can one credibly argue that if other companies follow Wal-Mart’s enhancements and approach that this is a “race to the bottom.”
The key policy issue is this.
Wal-Mart has engaged in FCPA compliance enhancements in reaction to its high-profile FCPA scrutiny.
Perhaps if there was a compliance defense more companies would be incentivized to engage in compliance enhancements pro-actively.
A compliance defense is thus not a “race to the bottom” it is a “race to the top” (see here for the prior post) and it is surprising how compliance defense detractors are unable or incapable of grasping this point.
In pertinent part, the Wal-Mart report provides:
“People
“[C]ompliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-corruption laws remained a key priority for the company. Walmart hired a number of anti-corruption directors and other anti-corruption staff in both its global headquarters and in its International retail markets during the year. The anti-corruption director for each market reports to a dedicated anti-corruption team in Walmart’s Home Office in Bentonville, Arkansas, which is led by the company’s Global Anti-Corruption Compliance Officer. Collectively, this global team is charged with conducting due diligence, developing and providing anti-corruption training, and overseeing the implementation of the company’s anti-corruption policies and procedures throughout the world.
To ensure that Walmart has an effective anti-corruption compliance program, the company continued to work closely with external anti-corruption compliance experts to continue reviewing, assessing and developing its anti-corruption program during the year. In total in Fiscal 2014, the company has spent in excess of $109 million on enhancements to its global anti-corruption compliance program and financial controls. With the addition of new anti-corruption resources, the company transitioned some anti-corruption compliance work from external consultants to internal staff during Fiscal 2014. This effort is critical to promoting the long-term sustainability and capability of the company’s anti-corruption compliance team.
Second, the company added personnel to the compliance program in its International division both through internal transfers of existing associates and through new hires. Notably, by the end of Fiscal 2014 the company had appointed 10 market-level CCOs in the International division to build and lead the compliance teams in the company’s retail markets. The company also appointed regional CCOs to lead and support the compliance organization within three international regions—LatAm (Argentina, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Mexico), Asia (China, India, Japan), and EMEA (Africa, Canada, U.K.).
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Fifth, in Fiscal 2014 the company began the process of planning for and appointing teams of compliance monitors in all of its International retail markets. These monitors are known as Continuous Improvement Teams because of their mission to regularly review the company’s retail operations and assist the business in maintaining compliance with local laws and policies. In this respect, these international teams are intended to implement best practices that the company has learned in its U.S. retail operations, where similar compliance monitoring teams have functioned for several years.”
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Improved Training
Anti-corruption remains a key focus for compliance training in all markets. Walmart’s anti-corruption training is designed to develop awareness and understanding of the relevant standards of conduct for associates and agents who interact directly or indirectly with government officials on the company’s behalf, among other topics. The training teaches the principles and processes embodied in the company’s Global Anti-Corruption Policy and anti-corruption procedures.
Between December 2011 and January 2014, the company delivered anti-corruption training to more than 100,000 attendees from all levels of the company around the world, including key senior executives and officers who interact directly or indirectly with government officials. This training was conducted in the local language where appropriate. This training was delivered in a number of ways, including via a computer-based learning module to provide consistent and effective anti-corruption training to a broader audience of more than 45,000 associates; in-person procedure and practical scenario training to more than 16,000 associates; in-person general FCPA awareness training in all markets to over 15,000 associates and ad hoc, and risk-based market-specific training to over 28,000 associates. In addition to training its own associates, Walmart has begun to provide training to certain third-party intermediaries and business partners.
The anti-corruption training provided over the last two years provides a solid foundation for an ongoing training regimen. The company will continue providing anti-corruption training in the fiscal year ending January 31, 2015 (“Fiscal 2015”) with the launch of an enhanced global anti-corruption training and communication program. This program was created in Fiscal 2014 to further define risk-based target audiences and design both global and market-specific training and communication plans and requirements.”
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Policies and Processes
“Walmart’s Global Anti-Corruption Policy is part of the foundation for the company’s anti-corruption compliance program. Consistent with anti-corruption laws around the world, Walmart’s Global Anti-Corruption Policy prohibits anyone acting on behalf of the company from offering, giving or receiving anything of value to or from any person, including any government official, in order to improperly influence any act or decision or to otherwise gain an improper benefit for the company. The Global Anti-Corruption Policy prohibits “facilitating payments” and also clarifies that any associate or third party who violates the policy will be subject to disciplinary measures up to and including termination and, where appropriate, referral of the matter to relevant law enforcement authorities.
In Fiscal 2014, Walmart continued to develop and enhance its market-specific anti-corruption procedures tied to this global policy. Among other issues, these enhancements related to:
Assessments of anti-corruption compliance risks;
Due diligence on third parties who interact with government officials;
Processes and anti-corruption-related contractual provisions for engaging third parties and business partners;
Business expenditures (e.g., meals, travel, entertainment, and gifts) involving government officials;
Charitable contributions and donations;
Acquisition or lease of property from government officials and agencies
Government inspections and any associated fines or penalties;
Memberships and sponsorships;
Training;
Record-keeping; and
Reporting and investigating allegations of violations relating to integrity.
Over the year, Walmart also continued to evaluate and improve the financial controls in its International retail markets using a team of internal personnel and external consultants. For example, during the year the company installed or amended financial controls for non-merchandise disbursements, employee expense reimbursements, and the sale of gift cards. To increase global and market-level knowledge of the company’s financial controls, the company established corporate-level and in-market communications tools that reported on the progress of the financial control enhancement project. Walmart also improved its in-market and corporate monitoring and reporting, including key control reporting, self-assessments, and certifications, to evaluate the effectiveness of its enhanced financial controls.
As Walmart’s business grows and the risk landscape changes, the company will continue to assess and improve its financial controls and global anti-corruption program.”
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Systems
A. Third-Party Due Diligence
Third parties who interact with the government (including agents, consultants, and distributors) (collectively “TPIs”) could present potential compliance risks to international businesses. In Fiscal 2014 Walmart implemented a technology solution across all the company’s international retail markets to screen TPIs for anti-corruption and other compliance risks by collecting information on TPIs and comparing it with information from various databases. These databases help to expose some potential relationships between TPIs and foreign governments, identify whether the TPI has been subjected to certain government sanctions, and reveal adverse media stories about the TPI. The company also provided relevant associates in each market’s anti-corruption team with in-person training on the use of the tool.
B. Licenses and Permits
To systematize tracking of the company’s licenses and permits, the company selected a technology tool to manage licenses and permits in all markets and began the initial rollout of this system in four retail markets.
C. Compliance Monitoring
The company also began deploying an electronic tool for capturing monitoring data and tracking remediation of compliance issues identified by the company’s compliance monitors. The initial phase of the tool was installed in all of Walmart’s International retail markets, with a plan to deploy additional functionality in Fiscal 2015.”