A compliance consulting firm is used by organizations to check whether they are meeting all legal, regulatory and ethical requirements in the business area that they operate. Compliance consulting firm often refers to compliance in the financial industry but compliance is required by all businesses in whatever field they operate. They provide compliance consultants that assess how well a given business is performing their compliance obligations, examining the processes involved with compliance and suggesting how they can be improved.
A compliance consultant must have deep knowledge of the legal and regulatory requirements that apply for a given business and will often have worked as a compliance officer in the past. A compliance officer should have a university degree; the types held can include law, chemistry, economics, finance, management among others held by compliance officers as well as continuing education in compliance: they need to be up-to-date in changes in compliance requirements.
The primary duty of a compliance consultant is to assess whether a business is being run legally and ethically and complies with all applicable industry regulations, legal regulations and maintain overall ethical standards in given industry. Compliance consultants must understand how to interpret these regulations and how they fit into the business operations of the companies and the industry they operate in.
As well as thoroughly understanding legal regulations, compliance consultants should understand how to meet ethical practices and standards in their industries.
The need for ethics interpretation makes it crucial for compliance officers to understand the underlying values of a company so that they can establish and implement standard procedures. An ongoing review of a company’s ethical standards is a necessary part of any compliance officer’s job.
In industries where meeting regulatory burdens is a significant cost centre, compliance consultants will help a business in developing, improving and distributing compliance procedures to company employees as efficiently as possible. For example, compliance officers in the financial services industry might need to focus their attention on anti-money laundering initiatives, including ongoing training and education programs on the ever changing tactics for criminals.
The consultant must educate employees on how they can remain compliant with changes in both practice and the constantly evolving regulatory environment.
Individuals who hold these positions are also responsible for reviewing the current and prospective risk a business enterprise faces if compliance fails for any reason. These risk assessments are reported to high-level executives to establish internal controls to minimize risk exposure. A compliance consultant will identify the risks that face the organization with a review of the procedures that are in place to reduce that risk.
