2024 ACI Annual Conference
The Australian Compliance Institute held our 2024 Annual Conference on 17 September 2024. The conference was primarily hosted in Melbourne, with attendees also being able to meet and network at locations in Sydney and Perth.
The theme was ‘Building the Future for Compliance Professionals’ which primarily focused on upcoming challenges, regulatory trends and how the compliance industry should position itself in the future. The broad themes addressed across the day by over 30 speakers focused on the following:
‘Tick the box’ compliance is dead
The opening presentation by Professor Allan Fels AO queried why there was such high visibility of corporate non-compliance in Australia. His speech was clear that merely going through the motions of meeting stated requirements rather than embedding compliance in an organisation result in the program not being fit for purpose.
Culture, culture, culture
A successful program will only result from the right culture. This clearly starts with the tone at the top which aligns the core values of an organisation with ethical decision making. A narrow focus on compliance results in it not forming part of the culture of any organisation, thereby resulting in people focusing on what you really want me to do, versus what you say you want me to do in empty, unsupported compliance policies. As Joe Longo (ASIC Chair) stated, ‘true compliance is an alignment of what is preached and practiced.’
The role of ISO37301
The international standard covering compliance management systems (ISO37301) was raised by a number of speakers as being an important benchmark on which to develop and build a compliance framework. Drawing on the need to address an organisation as an ecosystem with clear systems, policies and systems to frame culture (as stated by Simon Longstaff AO), ISO37301 supports and informs a culture of compliance
Business knowledge and partnership
Longo underscored the importance of compliance professionals understanding the business and their risks, but at the same time maintaining independence from the business. To achieve this however, requires honing a range of skills and knowledge including understanding regulatory change, negotiation/influencing skills, and managing compliance risks in a holistic way (operational resilience by ensuring that risks are not siloed).
Curiosity
The word of the day. From the panel discussing ‘how to get a seat at the table’, to Longo and discussions on international trends, the emphasis was on compliance professionals asking questions of the business, challenging existing structures, asking how to learn from mistakes (yours and others) and being open to new ideas. This is particularly relevant when considering the potential impact and opportunities with AI, regulatory change and observing how changes have been managed in international markets.
Embracing significant regulatory change
Climate reporting (the ‘biggest financial change in a generation’), significant changes in managing privacy risks (‘need to do more with less’) the focus on accountability (‘do not become complacent’) and managing third party risks (‘know and understand your supply chain’) were some of the areas discussed in a range of panels and keynote speakers. Suffice to say, compliance professionals need to understand whats changing and how to handle it in an organisation.
Understanding these key outcomes, how can the ACI and compliance professional address the key challenges they face? We broke these challenges into five areas of focus to build the future for the compliance profession, using the knowledge shared at the conference:
1. Corporate Accountability
There is an important need to understand why compliance programs continue to fail. Entities continue to be found wanting with compliance programs that lack substance or structure. Expectations for robust, efficient and proactive compliance systems continue to develop globally.
2. Supply Chain risks
Operational resilience and third party risk management (TPRM) is growing area of compliance risk. The need to have access to good data on third and fourth parties in a growing trend of outsourcing underscores the need for effective planning of data management in a compliance program and related skills.
3. Demand for compliance professionals continues to grow
Knowledge of and curiosity about the business, leadership, engagement skills and understanding compliance operational risks are essential in the toolkit of every compliance professional. However, developing technical skills in analysis, data integration, framework development, policy, procedure and report writing are also essential skills to establish and raise the bar for people working in compliance.
4. Beyond the checklist
Compliance programs must be meaningful to be effective. This means the program must form part of the corporate culture, be integrated into the organisation risk appetite and tolerance. Understanding and incorporating robust, internationally standards such as ISO37301 is a critical step to moving beyond an empty checklist to embedding compliance.
5. Increasing regulation
Understanding and staying current with the regulatory landscape is a critical aspect of the compliance professional role. Compliance professionals must have a clear strategy on how to access information on their industry standards, regulations and consumer expectations.
The ACI is excited to work through these challenges and support the outcomes in our membership discussion groups, workshops, training and other engagement activities.
We would like to thank Deliotte, our conference host and platinum sponsor, Diligent, our Diamond Sponsor, our exhibitors – Lexis Nexis, GRC Solutions, Fairsupply, Ethixbase 360, Cura Solutions, and our award sponsor, AM Best.
