In this podcast, James Tillen speaks with Financial CrimeCast about why it is important for companies to regularly audit and test their anti-corruption compliance programs. Tillen recommends that audits be led by the legal department or outside counsel because "it can then be done under the umbrella of attorney-client privilege." According to Tillen, "... that gives you a lot of advantage than if an auditor was doing it when that privilege did not apply. If you can structure your audit so that [the auditors] are operating at the direction of legal, then you can have the benefit of attorney-client privilege while still having their skill set of doing the transactional testing and reviewing."

The use of third-parties is the biggest area of concern in most compliance programs. Tillen said third-party actions account for 80 to 90 percent of FCPA enforcement cases. "That is the greatest risk for FCPA liability and, consequently, an area of weakness in many compliance programs," he said.

After a company performs an audit, it is important to that it carefully reviews the findings and take the appropriate steps to remediate any issues that may be found. "The worst thing that a company can do," Tillen said, "is do an audit, find issues or weaknesses, and then not respond to them."