Are you ready for the new year? Have you thought through what your top compliance priorities will be? To spur your thinking (and of course, its marketing goals), Integrity Interactive has come out with its annual study on the Top 12 corporate compliance concerns of global companies.

The 2009 version suggests a continuation of recent trends, notably a shift to "outward-focused concerns," such as anti-bribery requirements, which is the leading concern on this year's list. This makes sense in a global economy. Conflicts of interests and gifts, and product safety and liability also moved toward the top of the list.

And what about Sarbanes-Oxley? Well, financial integrity made the list at No. 12, but you'll be hard pressed to find executives who will say the law is less of a priority. It may be that big, global companies have achieved a level of comfort with the law such that it is no longer a front-burner issue. You could also argue that many of the top concerns are at least tangentially in-scope from a Sarbox perspective.

So for what it's worth, here's the 2009 Top 12 ethics and compliance concerns:
 
1. Anti-Bribery Requirements
2. Conflicts of Interest & Gifts
3. Antitrust Contact with Competitors
4. Mutual Respect
5. Records Management
6. Product Safety & Liability
7. Privacy
8. Proper Use of Computers
9. Export Controls
10. Careful Communication
11. Information Security
12. Financial Integrity

Is there anything else that will make your list this year? - Jim