In this day and age, every mid to large size company is regulated by some authority or government body. For banks and building societies, it is FSA, EU, MiFID, FATF, Basel Committee; for pharmaceuticals, it is BNF/MHRA/FDA; for local and Central Government, it is ODPM/DWP etc. There are standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II, IAS, etc. to comply with, depending on the sector in which the company is operating. Internally, companies have their own policies and procedures which employees and departments need to follow. Surprisingly enough, a lot of employees are not even aware of some of the common policies relevant to their businesses.
Failure of non-compliance with the industry related directives can result in serious consequences for the company such as defamation, imprisonment, financial loss, sanctions, loss of customers, etc.
More and more companies are embracing technology for process control. In order to not only survive but to thrive in today’s highly competitive and regulated environment, companies have to ensure that their internal policies and procedures are in compliance with external policies and directives relevant to their businesses.