Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
Please click here to read about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: provisions, penalties, compliance programs and trends.
The FCPA: What Our Clients Need to Know and Why They Need to Know it
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) is a federal law which prohibits companies from obtaining or directing business through the payment of bribes to foreign governmental officials and political figures. The renewed focus on corporate accountability in recent years has led to a dramatic increase in the number of FCPA enforcement actions -- from 5 in 2004 to 38 in 2007. The attached presentation, utilized in connection with a recent in-house presentation, summarizes the FCPA and why it is imperative that every company doing business in the global marketplace be aware of its provisions and serious penalties, including civil penalties, criminal fines, and imprisonment, in the event of a violation.
Click here to view the presentation.
Presented by:
(213) 617-4125
Do We Have An FCPA Problem?
A Dozen Questions to Ask
- Are you an issuer, US person or US entity?
- Have any foreign agents or subsidiaries?
- Are you a foreign person or company whose transactions touch the US?
- Promised or paid anything of value to a foreign official (governmental, political, NGO) for business purposes?
- Did you or a third party know or suspect it would be passed on to a foreign official?
- Have you consciously disregarded circumstances indicating improper payments occured?
- Do you maintain an adequate system of internal controls?
- Was the payment to facilitate a routine governmental action (grease payment) permitted by the foreign country?
- Do your books fairly reflect the transactions and properly characterize expenditures, such as "entertainment?"
- Have you conducted comprehensive due diligence on your foreign business partner?
- Is your industry historically prone to corruption?
- Are you doing business in a country with a "corrupt" environment?
