Reference no: EM132170470 , Length: word count:1600

Compliance Report Assignment

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By completing this assignment, students will accomplish the following:

A. Gain increased awareness of the U.S. regulatory environment generally, and of the role of the compliance function;
B. Gain increased awareness about emerging careers in compliance and ethics, including job titles, job functions and salaries; and awareness of the tools available to assist management and compliance professionals in adhering to laws and regulations and industry standards;
C. Demonstrate critical thinking (evaluation) skills by articulating the student's personal observations about, as well as reactions to, compliance as a component of professional business practice (as assessed by the College of Business Critical Thinking-Evaluation Rubric incorporated into the grade rubric for this assignment); and
D. Demonstrate effective written communication skills (as assessed by the College of Business Writing Rubric incorporated into the grade rubric for this assignment).

STEPS FOR COMPLETING & SUBMITTING THE REPORT STEP 1.
Learn about compliance in the context of corporate governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC).

For brief background information, read the items listed below. You do not need to read each one in detail, nor will you be required to include all of this material in your report. The purpose in Step 1 is to learn about compliance as an on-going essential business activity, and to find resources serving as a portal to primary sources for future use. I find them all very interesting, and after looking at each, you will have a good overview of the increasing significance of compliance functions for U.S. businesses.

STEP 2. RECENT COMPLIANCE PROBLEM & ENFORCEMENT ACTION
Learn about the main laws used in current enforcement efforts by the U.S. government regulators. Many actions are based on the following laws:
A. the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
B. the False Claims Act
C. the Securities Acts

Open the links to short explanations of these two very important statutes, the FCPA and the FCA. Federal regulators currently have over 100 open investigations based on these laws.

STEP 3. SELECT AN ARTICLE FOR YOUR PAPER & SUBMIT TO INSTRUCTOR FOR ARTICLE APPROVAL
Using one of the websites below (or other approved business website - check with your Instructor if in doubt), read about a recent (within the past 60 days) compliance breach, enforcement action, agency and/or court decision. Ideally, the article will address an alleged breach that occurred in the past 60 days. However, it can cover the results of a federal enforcement action concluding an investigation or prosecution of a breach that occurred months ago. Pick an article about a business in an industry of interest to you. The business must be a non-governmental entity. Stated another way, the business or entity cannot be owned and operated by a political subdivision such as a city, county, or by the state or federal governments. The laws or regulations discussed must be U.S. laws. The entity can be a publicly traded company, a private company, a large corporation or a small business. It cannot be a governmental entity. The laws or regulations discussed must be U.S. laws. Be sure to cite your article's URL on the title page, and the date you last visited the weblink, so that your Instructor can locate the article. Test the link (open a new browser and paste link and go) before submitting the article for approval. If the link fails, you cannot receive approval. Failure to submit and receive approval of the article may result in points deducted from your report score.

STEP 4. WRITING THE PAPER
Organize your paper in the 3 parts below, using the given subheadings. Do not use Q&A format. Do not restate the question in your paper.
Part 1: Recent Compliance Problem and Enforcement Action
Using your selected article about an alleged legal/ethical compliance breach, answer the following questions (using A,B,C,D,E formatting). If the article does not address the question, state that the article did not address this point.
A. Identify the industry in which the compliance problem occurred or was alleged to have occurred.
B. What is the non-compliant behavior? When did happen? What laws or regulations were allegedly not followed?
C. When did the regulatory agency and/or court take action on this behavior?
D. What penalties and punishments resulted from this behavior?
E. What steps will be taken by the company to prevent the behavior from happening in the future?

Part 2: Student's Opinion About the Recent Compliance Problem and Enforcement Action
This section is your opinion about the activities your article describes. What do you think about what happened, the company's behavior, the government's interventions, the impact on the industry and consumers and the public in general?

Part 3: Student's Opinion About Compliance
Think about the information you have read in the compliance websites and about the compliance breach and enforcement action in your article, then answer the following questions (using A,B,C,D,E formatting). Do not use Q&A format. Do not restate the question in your paper.

A. Prior to this assignment, did you know the term GRC? After reading the websites listed in this assignment, what is your understanding of GRC today? Did your understanding change? How would you explain the term GRC and the role of compliance to your management team who are unaware of these terms? Does compliance impact all business functions, and if so, how?

B. Prior to this assignment, were you aware that compliance is becoming its own industry? Why do you think compliance is becoming a discrete industry?

C. What were some of the jobs from the jobs websites you visited? What were the salaries? Do you think a job like one of the listed jobs might be in your future after graduation? Why or why not? Why do you think compliance jobs
pay high salaries? Identify at least 4 jobs by title and salary if given.

D. Assume you take a job after graduation that DOES NOT have ‘compliance' in the job title. Do you think you will be required to perform compliance activities in that job? Stated another way, who do you think is responsible for compliance? Everyone in the company, or only those persons trained and certified in compliance?

E. What role to you see for compliance functions in the next 5 to 10 years in the U.S. legal environment of business?

STEP 5. REPORT DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS: CONTENT & FORMAT
The report should be written in a manner meeting the requirements stated below.
Use Complete Sentences and Correct Writing Mechanics
Use complete sentences, though listing of specific duties, requirements, or laws in bullet form is permitted. To improve your writing skills, take advantage of the COB and UHD writing tutors. They are available for face to face meetings, drop box, or Zoom (online) reviews. To schedule an appointment, go to uhd.mywconline.com, or call 713.237.5400, or visit uhd.edu/ northwest. If you review your draft report with a writing tutor prior to submission, and you submit documentation of at least one tutor review, no points will be deducted for writing mechanics errors.

Report Content & Format
The body of your report must be a minimum of 3-4 single-spaced pages (12 point Times Roman font, 1 inch margins for all margins). You may exceed the minimum length if needed. You may reference websites within your text (as opposed to creating a Works Cited page at the end). Any standard citation format is acceptable.

Format the body of the report with these subheadings and content:
Part 1: Recent Compliance Problem and Enforcement Action
Refer to the questions listed in Step 4 Part 1. Answer each question. If your article does not address an item, say so. Do not do additional research. No extra points are earned using additional articles. Use the required formatting. Do not repeat the question then provide the answer (as Q and A format). Rather, use the question's letter designation, then answer the question in narrative form.
Part 2: My Opinions of the Recent Problem and Enforcement Action
This section is your opinion. You should base your opinion on what you have learned about the industry and company under scrutiny, the relevant laws and regulations mentioned in your article, the alleged non-compliant behavior, the resulting injuries/harm. What would be happening in this company or industry without these laws and regulations? This section is for your thoughts and opinions. You may refer to our textbook here if relevant.

Part 3: My Opinions of the Role of Compliance in Business
Refer to the questions listed in Step 4 Part 3. Answer each question. Use the required formatting. Do not repeat the question (as in Q and A format). Rather, use the question's letter designation, then answer the question in narrative form.

STEP 6: REPORT SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS (Follow directions 100% or points will be deducted).
A. Name the report file (your last name)_(your first name)_(Report). Example: Smith_Bill_Report. Do not use ( ).
Save the file type as a PDF.

B. Submit your report through the Blackboard assignment tool. Submitting through a message or to a UHD.edu email account will not count as submission. You must submit in Blackboard's REPORT assignment tool. If you do not know how, please ask.

C. NOTE the submission deadline on the Course Calendar. Please plan accordingly. Late submissions are accepted until the late submission deadline on the Course Calendar, not thereafter. Do not wait until the last hour of the last day as your computer could crash, Blackboard could go down, you could attach the wrong file, you could lose Internet access, we could lose electrical power, and any number of other reasons why you could miss the deadline. Professionals plan ahead. If I were you, I would save my file to my One Drive (Cloud) account, in addition to my computer. Also, email the file to yourself so that you have a backup just in case all else fails.

Article - AmerisourceBergen Corporation Agrees to Pay $625 Million to Resolve Allegations That it Illegally Repackaged Cancer-Supportive Injectable Drugs to Profit From Overfill