Shaping culture through actions not words

To avoid the problems that a weak culture of compliance can lead to, such as reputational damage, loss of market share, and punitive fines imposed by regulators and law enforcement, companies need to demonstrate that their compliance program is more than words on paper. They need to live it through their culture. As the U.S. Department of Justice states in its guidance on corporate compliance programs, a company needs to, “create and foster a culture of ethics and compliance with the law at all levels of the company,” which requires a “high-level commitment by company leadership to implement a culture of compliance from the middle and the top.”