Compliance has emerged as a big issue for many companies, especially as regulations continue to spread and the risks of noncompliance go higher. We continue to hear a lot about various FCPA and other investigative hot button issues, but we'll spare you the exhaustive list of regulations that companies face today.

So how have companies responded? The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, for one, thinks that more companies are taking pains to develop better programs aimed at compliance and ethics. The group reports that its membership has grown 25 percent recently and that compliance jobs are among the fastest-growing in the country. Whether or not all this adds up to a movement is unclear. But it is certainly an industry, as vendors, professional services companies and others feed the beast. And there does seem to be a change going on at many companies where the top executives now understand the risks of noncompliance.

According to a recent survey by SEI, the majority of chief compliance officers say they have the support of senior management; 80 percent said the commitment of senior management to compliance in the past year has been either "very strong" or "somewhat strong." At the same time, resources continues to be a huge issue. Nearly 30 percent said a lack of resources or funding was their biggest barrier to success, while nearly 60 percent cited their ever growing list of responsibilities as a resource issue.

Some are now taking on responsibility for enterprise risk management. One approach by top executives may be to see the compliance issue as one that can fully delegated to a compliance executive. Compliance officers still have a lot of work to do toward changing the internal culture around ethics, however. Only half said a code of ethics is part of their business continuity plan. 

For more:
- here's the article in Corporate Secretary
- here's the survey from SEI

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