As far as reputation management, workforce productivity, and profitability is concerned, not all whistleblower reports are created equal. Internal whistleblower reports are a symptom of strong cultures where employees help identify and solve corporate problems internally. External whistleblower reports trigger a series of negative financial and reputational events that undermine overall business performance measures. 

Twice in the last five months, we’ve seen the Securities and Exchange Commission sanction U.S.-listed companies for FCPA violations, where distributors exploited poor internal accounting controls to create slush funds for bribes. Here's what anti-bribery and corruption programs can learn. 

Among the trends taking place in the ethics and compliance industry, a common thread has become evident: transparency. Whether it be a company’s data use practices, its response to sexual harassment, or its efforts to eliminate atrocities like human trafficking from supply chains –transparency will define our industry’s challenges and opportunities in 2019.

Any conversation around white-collar crime, needs to drill down into motivations. What drives people – who are often seen as exemplary in many other ways – to commit criminal acts. That is what we will focus on here in part two of our white-collar crime series.