Bribery is one of the most recognisable and widespread forms of corruption. A steady stream of corporate scandals and enforcement actions in the UK and abroad show that bribery remains a global problem and a challenge for companies.
Corruption corrodes the fabric of society. It undermines people’s trust in political and economic systems, institutions and leaders. It can affect people’s health, money and freedom.
Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is becoming more ingrained in businesses strategy and day-to-day practice. The mitigation of risks is fundamental to the success of any organisation and bribery is a major risk that has the capacity to ruin a company’s reputation and cost it dearly, not only financially.
So says the start of a bribery risk guide, downloadable. It’s intended to help risk managers identify and evaluate their exposures to the risk of bribery. It also explains how risk assessment fits into the development and maintenance of an organisation’s wider anti-bribery programme. The guide draws on Transparency International UK’s 2013 publication, Diagnosing Bribery Risk.
Bribery risk is defined as the risk of offering, paying or receiving a bribe through an officer, employee, subsidiary, intermediary or any third party (individual or corporate) acting on the commercial organisation’s behalf. The UK Bribery Act 2010 defines bribery as giving or receiving a financial or other advantage in connection with the “improper performance” of a position of trust, or a function that is expected to be performed impartially or in good faith. Bribery doesn’t have to involve cash or an actual payment changing hands. It can take many forms including gifts, lavish treatment during a business trip or tickets to an event.
To read the 44-page document, visit https://www.theirm.org/media/2281190/IRM-Bribery-Guide.pdf.
What they say
Paul Hopkin, Director Technical Director at the IRM says: “Bribery can take many forms. In popular culture it’s often seen as a dark art, special agents switching briefcases, fat cats lining their own pockets. But in a lot of cases bribery is more ‘under the radar’ and can involve staff at both a grassroots and board level. This guide is intended to help anyone involved in managing risk identify and evaluate their exposures to the risk of bribery. It also explains how risk assessment fits into the development and maintenance of an organisation’s wider anti-bribery programme.”
And Peter van Veen, Director, Business Integrity Programme at Transparency International UK says: “We are delighted to collaborate with IRM on this guide. It is an important addition to the toolkit of anyone involved in managing risk and we hope that it will help risk professionals and their colleagues to strengthen their approach to mitigating bribery risk. Companies have an important role in the fight against corruption, not only by ensuring that they are not knowingly or unknowingly reinforcing local corruption by paying bribes, but also by showing leadership in their industry through setting and operating to high standards.”
The IRM and TI are holding a joint workshop on the implications and practical uses of the guide; at Lloyd’s Register, London on October 20.
