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It is mandatory for every company to comply with certain rules and regulations. For this purpose, a Compliance Officer (CO) is hired to ensure that all the activities being carried out in a firm comply with the established regulations of the state. Ensuring that the company is complying with the regulations and standards of best practices in business will save it from future legal problems and penalties.

The job of a compliance officer involves a great deal of responsibility. This is because their efficiency on the job can save the company a lot of legal hassle, however; poor job performance of a compliance officer can put them in hot water. Below are some of the key duties compliance officers should perform on their jobs.

• One of the main duties of a compliance officer is to prevent the employees in the firm from acting unethically or illegally. The officer is also supposed to ensure that employees follow a proper conduct and behave professionally in the work environment. Their attitude towards their work and their coworkers should also be ethical and acceptable.

• The officer is responsible for communicating all the ethical guidelines to every department and ensures that they are being strictly followed. He needs to interact with every employee on an individual basis and see if they have properly understood the guidelines and that the message has been clearly sent across. Moreover, regular follow up is also required to ensure no employee moves out of track.

• In case, some issues arise regarding proper implementation of those guidelines, the officer can investigate the root cause of the problem and try solving the issue himself. He can also take assistance from the Corporate Attorney of the company in this regard and deal with the issues at hand.

• A compliance officer will be required to take up several different roles. He has to see that every department is following the given set of regulations. For this purpose, he may be required to play the role of a Bank Secrecy Act/OFAC Officer, Community Reinvestment Act Officer, Bank Security, Safety Officer and Privacy Officer.

• In case of any violation of rules, the compliance officer initiates an investigative procedure to handle the problem.

• The compliance officer is responsible for drafting plans to take corrective action against any risk of non-compliance. Moreover, in collaboration with other members of the compliance committee, the officer establishes some risk control measures to avoid any future risks of non-compliance.

• The officer keeps a strict check on all departments. Careful monitoring of employees and activities will help the officer to identify and eliminate any compliance risks that might be lurking before they do the firm any harm.

• The officer also has to review and evaluate all the compliance activities to ensure that the business is running smoothly and according to the regulations.

• Any laws that are violated by the company activities or the workers are reported by the officer to the authorized enforcement agencies. Potential violations are also reported to the agencies to avoid future risks.

Further reading: Corporate Governance | Audit | Performance Improvement