Compliance

Regulatory dynamics, the age of digitalisation and, last but not least, globalisation pose numerous challenges for companies today. However, agile entrepreneurial action nowadays involves more than just considering individual sets of rules: it also means the responsibility to comply with all regulations applying to the company and its stakeholders. And to do so as efficiently as possible.

Newly implemented regulations such as the German Corporate Liability Act (Verbandssanktionengesetz) and issues such as data compliance or certification according to ISO standards usually require existing systems, processes and measures to be reviewed or adapted, or new ones to be designed and implemented. We support you in creating, rolling out or improving these, taking an approach that is individual, just like your company. Our strength is our interdisciplinary teams, which cover everything in the compliance spectrum with great passion, from current individual issues to the implementation of a holistic compliance management system (CMS).

KPMG's Compliance Solution comprises four service areas in which our audit and advisory services are organised:

We are the market leader in our core business, the audit of CMSs in accordance with IDW PS 980 - regardless of whether they comprise one or more sub-areas (e.g. anti-corruption, antitrust law, export control, data protection, product compliance). KPMG has developed a tried and tested methodology for this, which distinguishes between phases that build on each other: readiness check, adequacy check and effectiveness check. Our approach ranges from determining the current status and the CMS's audit readiness (point in time) to the effectiveness opinion (period of time). Audit procedures at central level are the key to our audit approach. And you will be informed of concrete recommendations for action and potential for improvement which we gain through our deep insights as auditors.

Compliance is a matter for top management - this is shown by the increasing number of executive board functions in the DAX40 whose area of responsibility also includes compliance issues. Increasing pressure for efficiency and margins is competing with the added value that can result from effective compliance processes. This means that compliance and business leaders today need to think even more strategically to invest in compliance activities and to promote things such as compliance automation and digitalisation, the integration of governance, risk and compliance systems or lean compliance.

A Compliance Management System (CMS) that is known and accepted within the company, that effectively supports the company's business processes as a business enabler. A CMS that meets legal requirements and significantly reduces liability risks. A system that is demonstrably appropriate and effective and can withstand an audit by authorities or auditors at any time. Our Compliance Advisory Team covers all of this - from conducting targeted compliance risk assessments to designing, implementing and holistically optimising a CMS along its individual elements. We keep our clients up to date by informing them about regulatory requirements and legal innovations, such as the German Corporate Liability Act or the new guidelines of the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Compliance violations with a US connection can sometimes end in US monitoring proceedings. Even minor points of contact with the United States are sufficient to trigger application of US regulations and to bring companies into complex proceedings with the SEC and the US Department of Justice (DoJ). This entails considerable risks for non-US entities, sometimes resulting in very extensive and complex requirements for the compliance management system that must be explained to a US monitor in proceedings lasting several years. As an expert third party, a monitor is tasked with observing whether a company is in compliance with its obligations arising from proceedings (usually criminal) with the DoJ. The monitor is always independent. KPMG has built up extensive global experience in connection with monitor proceedings in recent years, and we provide you with comprehensive support during such proceedings and ensure the best possible assistance throughout the entire process. With our interdisciplinary team of compliance and forensic specialists we address your specific questions and requirements, offering the highest quality and taking the most practical approach. 

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