Governance/Risk & Compliance

Ethics Violations

Problem statement: Ethics are necessary to minimize a company’s risk and exposure. As companies struggle to do “more” with fewer resources, technology can bridge the gap to make compliance easier, more consistent, and effective. Unfortunately, human-driven process leave an organization exposed to risk and potential lawsuits.

Onit solution: Onit’s ethics application was designed to simplify and automate processes by bringing all of your ethics cases together in one place so all who need to be involved can collaborate. You will be able to dig into each case, see where in the process it is, and have all the documentation shared between parties easily accessible.

Value prop: An organized approach to projects will reduce lost productivity, keep everyone on the same page, and enable you to save money because you will have a better handle on your resources.

Features/Benefits:

Sidebar - “The percentage of employees who perceived pressure to compromise standards in order to do their jobs climbed five points from 2009 to 13 percent in 2011.”

Source: 2011 National Business Ethics Survey - http://www.ethics.org/nbes/findings.html

Resource - Article: “Ethics Corner: We did the deal, surely we can handle the litigation”

Source: http://goo.gl/lImje

White paper: “Ethics Incorporated: How America’s corporations are institutionalizing moral values

Source: http://goo.gl/gq1kB

Sidebar - Factors that increase a professional’s risk for violating ethics standards:

1) Limited knowledge of the code of ethics and why adhering to ethical guidelines are best practice

2) Isolation

3) Life Crisis

4) Limited social connectedness

5) Non-therapeutic use of self-disclosure

6) Limited availability or use of supervision

7) Limited availability or use of case consultation

Source: http://www.counselormagazine.com/columns-mainmenu-55/64-ethics/906-ethics-violations-a-quantitative-study-comparing-human-service-professions

Whistleblower

Problem statement: Your employees are on the front lines of your business on a daily basis and can be your eyes and ears for anything going on in the company. Therefore, you need a streamlined process to encourage employees to come forward and share what they know in an environment that not only enables them to feel good about speaking up, but gives you and other decision makers the information should you need to make a formal investigation.

Onit solution: Onit’s whistleblower application lets you customize the types of forms and information gathering materials you will need to investigate any alleged dishonest activities brought to you by employees. You will be able to keep documents in one place and quickly and easily share them with other responsible parties. In addition, you will be able to know how many outstanding cases you have, see where they are in the pipeline, and be able to coordinate with all parties involved.

Value prop: By standardizing your procedure to enable whistleblowers to come forward, you will save your reputation and ease concerns from your employees on what would happen if they come to you with information.

Features/Benefits:

Resource - Video: The Essential Role of the Whistleblower in American Society

Source: http://www.whistleblower.org/multimedia/events-a-activism/315-anyone-can-whistle-the-essential-role-of-the-whistleblower-in-american-society

Resource - Tips for nonprofit whistleblowing policy

Source: http://www.nonprofitrisk.org/library/articles/employment091005.shtml

Sidebar - Why Implement a Whistleblower Policy?

All organizations, including universities, governmental entities, and nonprofits, should consider implementing whistleblowing provisions. Consider these important facts from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2006 “Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse:

More than $600 billion in annual losses is attributed to fraud.
Anonymous reporting mechanisms are the antifraud measure with the greatest impact on reducing losses: Companies with anonymous reporting mechanisms reported median losses of $100,000, while those without reported median losses of $200,000.
Tips from employees, customers, and vendors and anonymous tips account for:
34% of the detection of all fraudulent activity;
34% of the detection of fraudulent activity for not-for-profit organizations;
39.7% of the detection of fraudulent activity for government agencies; and
48% of the detection of owner/executive fraud schemes.

Source: http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2007/607/essentials/p58.htm

Don’t use – Another vendor listed Case study: Whistleblowing system at Overstock.com

Source: http://www.allegiance.com/documents/news/ComplianceWeek_OverstockCaseStudy.pdf

D&O Claims

Problem statement: Company executives and board members can frequently be targets of lawsuits. It’s important to know how many claims you have, their status, and who needs to be informed along the way. That could be the executive, HR department, inside and outside counsel, and your insurance company. As a result, you could have a costly and time consuming process of organizing dozens of emails and documents that are passed between the parties involved on a daily basis.

Onit solution: By effectively managing the process with Onit’s app, you will be able to see all of the claims you have and where they are in the process. You can customize each claim to include the parties who are involved and instantly see when someone sends an email regarding the claim, know what documents you need and keep all of the documentation in one place for easy access.

Value prop: You already have the director and officer insurance, so why not have the process in place to take care of any claims that may arise. Knowing how many claims you have and being able to track the process quickly will protect your reputation, reduce financial impacts, decrease lost productivity, and keep your top executives and board of directors doing what they do best – moving the company forward.

Features/Benefits:

2010 Director and Officer Survey

Quote - “Thirty-one percent of respondents, representing 147 organizations, reported having a D&O claim over the last 10 years, up sharply from our 2008 survey, when only 17% reported having a claim in the previous 10 years.”

Source: Tower Watson http://goo.gl/e2qwX

Resource - White paper: “The Shocking Impact of Corporate Scandal on Directors’ and Officers’ Liability”

Source: http://goo.gl/IptrF

Article: “The Fine Print of Directors’ and Officers’ Liability Insurance Policies”

Resource

Source: http://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/law_trends_news_practice_area_e_newsletter_home/10_winter_bl_feat3.html

Article: “D&O Liability Insurance in an Environment of Corporate Scandal”

Source: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/tortsource/tips_tortsource_Spring03.authcheckdam.pdf

SAS-70/SSAE-16 Compliance

Problem statement: A customer requested you provide them with a SAS-70 or SSAE-16 report. Preparation will require some work on your part because as an outsourced service provider, you must be able to give a description of your system, the controls you use, and the objectives those controls are designed to meet so that an auditor can assess the controls and make sure you are providing them properly to your client.

Onit solution: Using Onit’s SAS-70/SSAE-16 compliance application, you can host and manage internal controls, development life cycles, computer controls and customer applications in an efficient, secure, and cost-effective manner.

Value prop: You reduce the risk of losing the customer’s business, and the next time you are asked to provide one, you will have the resources together so you don’t lose revenue or productivity. You can also use the audit as a marketing tool to differentiate yourself from competitors and get new customers.