How many rules are too many? How complicated are the rules to follow? There were a couple of the questions posed in a recent Wall Street Journal article on the rules of golf. The article discussed a shot by Jordan Spieth in the recent PGA Championship that landed on a cart path and where Speith “spent nearly 10 minutes consulting with a rules official about his options for relief under Decision 24-2b/1, which exists to further explain the 474-word text known as Rule 24-2b.” The article went on to ask “Does golf really need to be this complicated?”
The Man From FCPA considered this question in the context of complying with the FCPA. Fortunately, the answer in FCPA compliance is quite simple—do not pay bribes. While this simple solution is certainly elegant, it is not always easy. A company must actually want to create a compliance program around this simple solution. This is because a compliance program does more than simply not pay bribes. As noted in the Justice Department/SEC 2012 FCPA Guidance, an effective compliance program should prevent, detect and remediate compliance failures.
