As a modern business owner, you know regulatory compliance requirements increase with each passing year. Did you also know that integrated ERP software provides your company with a powerful tool to meet those requirements?
Regulatory compliance standards increased rapidly after the financial crisis of 2008, holding companies to a higher standard of transparency and accountability. The regulatory compliance organizations vary by country. Two of the main regulatory rules within the United States are established by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and include the compliance rules established by the Sarbanes Oxley Act. These regulatory compliance standards forced firms to find solutions and enhance their compliance capabilities and they in turn began looking for an efficient and affordable solution.
A survey by Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence and Compliance (TRRI) of over 750 global risk and compliance practitioners detailed some of the regulatory challenges modern business owners face, including these board, compliance, culture, and conduct concern challenges.
- The challenge of balancing budgets in the face of increased regulatory compliance costs
- Increasing regulatory changes
- Cultural changes
- Implementation of regulatory changes
- Cyber security compliance requirements
- Keeping up-to-date with the latest regulatory changes
- Financial fraud/crime
- Creating a compliance culture in the workplace
This report also includes recent findings regarding regulatory developments, budgets, compliance teams, personal liability, technology, and outsourcing.
- In 2019, there were over 56,000 regulatory alerts from more than 1,000 regulatory compliance organizations with an average of 217 updates every day.
- Almost 50% of senior compliance officers expect a slight increase in regulatory compliance budget, 31% expect the budget to remain the same, and 11% expect a significant increase in budget.
- 48% of companies expect senior compliance staff requirements to slightly increase while 13% say the cost of hiring compliance personnel will be significantly greater.
- 34% of companies expect the size of their compliance teams within the company to grow while 7% of companies expect the size of their compliance teams to decrease.
- 34% of companies expect a turnover of senior staff on compliance teams.
- 17% of companies expect a significant increase in personal liability concerns for compliance officers while 41% say their personal liability risks will only grow slightly.
- 34% of businesses survey outsourced at least a part of their regulatory compliance functions. This is up from 28% in the previous year.
A key takeaway of the survey findings was that respondents believed the biggest change in compliance over the next decade will be the automation of regulatory compliance requirements.
Indeed, regulatory compliance challenges are great and many companies have found compliance costs prohibitive and a barrier to company growth. This is where an integrated ERP software system can help. With an ERP software solution customized specifically for your company, accurate, secure, and real-time information across multiple company systems including accounting, HR, finance, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and more are available to company decision makers when it is needed most in providing records showing regulatory compliance.
Non-compliance can mean financial ruin for organizations. Companies not complying with regulatory compliance standards can face fines in the millions or even billions of dollars. Consider the insider trading enforcement action against SAC Capital Advisors. This group was investigated by the SEC for insider trading violations. The SAC companies pleaded guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud. A $1.8 billion penalty charge became the largest insider trading penalty in history. As a result of these actions, the SAC Companies and affiliates were no longer able to accept outside investor funds nor able to continue investment advisor operations.
It makes sense to automate regulatory compliance functions for your firm. You will have to spend less time training staff on ever-changing regulations and you can focus your company’s resources on other business functions and helping your company grow. Financial management capabilities of ERP solutions can ease the record-keeping burden by providing the required documentation in real-time required for regulatory compliance. You will find that most of your mandatory compliance record-keeping is built into your ERP system and you will no longer have to worry about keeping up with a paper trail for business transactions.
With 66 years in business as the premier business automation provider in Utah, we’ve performed over 500 ERP implementations. You can trust that your regulatory compliance requirements will be in competent hands. Contact us to learn more about how our solutions can help with regulatory compliance and all your business automation needs.
