Unlocking trust: why global compliance is on the business agenda

The survey conducted, along with this correlated study [direct download link], reveals that well-implemented compliance builds investor confidence, improves client and customer trust, and positively affects a firm's reputation towards potential clients on the outside world. It’s more than meeting a meaningless checkbox, global compliance is a source of opportunity.

A clear sense of responsibility

Our survey gathered approximately 890 responses from senior compliance professionals in 25 countries, the study shows the clear sense of responsibility that business leaders have towards global compliance and the investment return they expect to gain.

It also shows insight into how compliance is getting harder for business leaders to manage because of increased complexity, fast-changing legislation, and the long consequences of Covid-19. To help counteract the pandemic’s effects and recent developments, leaders are planning to boost investment in technology and the skills of their teams.

Key findings

• Good global compliance increases stakeholder trust and confidence: 58% of business owners see compliance as an opportunity to create value in the form of trust and confidence, ultimately bolstering corporate reputation. 
• Compliance requirements are expected to become more difficult to meet in the future: 82% of business owners are confident they are successfully meeting the requirements now and will continue to do so in the future. However, over half of them (51%) expect compliance to get harder in the next five years. They attribute this belief to the fast-changing legislation, increased complexity and Covid-19 are the top three challenges; Brexit is the lowest-ranked challenge.
• Leaders are investing in technology and skills to prepare for the future: 27% plan to increase financial and people resources dedicated to global compliance ‘significantly’ in the next five years.

Erick Gillier, Partner and Global Head of Outsourcing, Forvis Mazars says: “Global compliance has long been a cornerstone of good business practice but can still be viewed by some as simply an obligation to be met rather than an opportunity to be capitalized on”. Therefore, we decided to understand how business leaders approach global compliance, including the attention they devote to it, the returns they expect, the risks they anticipate, and where they focus investment.

Erick adds: “With scrutiny on business as tight as ever, the findings that most leaders plan on increasing financial and human resources dedicated to compliance should be reassuring for anyone who wants to see good business done well”.

Read ‘Unlocking trust: why global compliance is on the business agenda’ [direct download] to know more about the opportunities global compliance can create, the challenges ahead, how tax transparency acts as a microcosm for compliance, what business leaders are doing to prepare for the future, and more.