Though the majority of companies in the U.S. and the U.K. are taking measures to address risks associated with anti-bribery and corruption compliance, important percentages are still struggling with such challenges, especially with third party risks and assessing different international requirements, according to KPMG's 2011 Global Anti-Bribery and Corruption Survey.

In particular, the document published yesterday showed that:

Only a third of the companies that participated in the survey performed anti-bribery and corruption risk assessments. About 20 percent of the firms gave their employees communication and training.

About 40 percent of firms that trained their employees in anti-bribery and corruption didn't also do so for third parties, such as agents, distributers, vendors, brokers, joint venture partners, or suppliers. More than half of companies did not get periodic compliance certificates from these outside partners. And about 60 percent of firms who have the right to audit their third parties, did not do so.

Only 43 percent of participating U.S. companies said their anti-bribery and corruption program was compliant with the U.K. Bribery Act. 46 percent of U.K. participants said that their programs were FCPA-compliant.

While every company should look at anti-corruption and bribery as an important business issue and make an informed decision based on a risk assessment, in the real world, that doesn't always get done, says Jay Martin, vice president, chief compliance officer, and senior deputy counsel at the oilfield services firm Baker Hughes Inc. "It takes a while to turn a big ship,” says Martin. “You're not going to take a country like the US, even though we're leading edge in the compliance area relative to other countries, and change every company of any size, any industry, and any geographical area, and have them all be in synch with the exactly the same progress on a particular trend.”

Ryan McConnell, a partner at the law firm Haynes and Boone, on the other hand, was surprised by the survey results, since in his experience, companies seemed doing a thorough job in addressing global anti-corruption concerns. “Companies are focusing on these issues and trying to adapt their compliance programs in a way that meaningfully addresses FCPA risk and the U.K. Bribery Act, as well,” says McConnell. “To say that a lot of companies that talk to you aren't really doing what they're supposed to be doing is surprising, because that's not what I and people at other firms that I've been in contact with perceive.”