The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA apply to all companies; the accounting and recordkeeping provisions of the FCPA apply to companies that are regulated by the SEC only. Companies that are regulated by the SEC are all public companies and some privately-held companies that have chosen to report to the SEC. An authorized and properly signed agreement that it will abide by the Act is not a legal requirement of the FCPA, nor is it necessary for compliance with it.
The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA apply to all companies; the accounting and recordkeeping provisions of the FCPA apply to companies that are regulated by the SEC only. Companies that are regulated by the SEC are all public companies and some privately-held companies that have chosen to report to the SEC. In order not only to comply with the accounting and recordkeeping provisions of the FCPA but also in order to have an effective internal control system, a company should have documentation of its existing internal accounting control systems. Documentation of the existing internal accounting control systems is important so that internal auditors and external auditors can review themt when doing an audit, and so that management and employees can consult them in order to comply with the requirements for implementing the control system.
The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA apply to all companies; the accounting and recordkeeping provisions of the FCPA apply to companies that are regulated by the SEC only. Companies that are regulated by the SEC are all public companies and some privately-held companies that have chosen to report to the SEC. In order not only to comply with the accounting and recordkeeping provisions of the FCPA but also in order to have an effective internal control system, a company should have a cost/benefit analysis of the controls and the risks that are being minimized. The cost of the operations of the internal controls should be less than the benefit thatis received from them. This will lead to some controls not being implemented and the company accepting some amount of risk because the cost of the necessary controls (in time, money, or both) are greater than the benefit they could provide.
The anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA apply to all companies; the accounting and recordkeeping provisions of the FCPA apply to companies that are regulated by the SEC only. Companies that are regulated by the SEC are all public companies and some privately-held companies that have chosen to report to the SEC. In order not only to comply with the accounting and recordkeeping provisions of the FCPA but also in order to have an effective internal control system, a company needs to have a system of quality checks to evaluate the internal accounting control system. The company's annual report filed with the SEC must be accompanied by a statement of management that management is responsible for creating and maintaining adequate internal controls. The statement must set forth management’s assessment of the effectiveness of these controls. The company’s auditor must report on and attest to management’s assessment of the effectiveness of the internal controls. This is considered to be the core responsibility of the auditor and an integral part of the audit report. In order to be able attest to the effectiveness of the internal controls, management must have some way to evaluate them.
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