The Red Flag Group to speak at landmark Washington DC audit committee conference

Topic will focus on the role of audit committees in tackling FCPA compliance

04 May 2010 – The chief executive of The Red Flag Group, a leading international compliance and corporate governance consultancy advising Fortune 500 companies, is set to speak at a US national conference on audit committee effectiveness to be held in Washington, DC.

Scott Lane, CEO of The Red Flag Group, is set to speak at the AICPA National Audit Committee Forum: Best Practices and Practical Applications organised by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. It will be held on July 29 and July 30. (http://www.cpa2biz.com/AST/Main/CPA2BIZ_Primary/AuditAttest/PRDOVR~PC-NACF/PC-NACF.jsp)

At the conference, Mr Lane will be speaking about the role of a company’s audit committee in ensuring compliance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). They include:
• What should a board be asking management to consider as part of FCPA compliance
• What should management be doing to update the board
• The steps an audit committee should take when considering the company’s FCPA compliance programme
• The importance of an audit committee managing FCPA and anti-bribery programmes internationally
• The need for directors to be appraised of the risks around FCPA and international corruption
• Why an audit committee needs to make sure audit programmes are in place and proactively searching for FCPA risks
• That the audit committee, chief compliance officer, general counsel, and internal audit department all understand their roles and responsibilities in the organisation

“The Obama administration, through the Department of Justice and the SEC, has made curtailing corruption one of its main focuses. The board or audit committee of any US company which has significant operations overseas, and which isn’t taking corruption as a top priority, is effectively putting themselves in the cross hairs. This crackdown has been exemplified by the recorded fines that have been meted out by US anti-corruption agencies over the past few years,” said Mr Lane.

“At the same time, the new Bribery Bill passed by the UK parliament will allow companies to significantly reduce their prosecution risk if they have adequate internal controls in place to prevent corruption. In light of these new developments, corporate boards of directors and audit committees have an obligation to make sure they are actively managing their FCPA and anti-bribery compliance programmes. To do otherwise is to invite heavy criminal fines of the scale that we have witnessed in the market in recent years, as well as reputational damage which will have an impact long after the financial penalties have been written off and forgotten,” he added.

Mr Lane is a compliance sector veteran with over 12 years of experience in providing advice in issues ranging from legal, internal audit, export control, to ethics and corporate governance. He has led corruption investigations in over ten countries, and has published more than 20 articles in leading Asian newspapers and journals. He has worked in senior director and general counsel capacities in various multinational corporations in Australia, UK, and in Hong Kong.

The forum will be attended by top compliance professionals from around the world, senior officials from various US regulatory departments – among them Robert Khuzami, the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) director of enforcement, as well as CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives from global multinational corporations.