Preventing a "Little Something on the Side" Under the UK Bribery Act

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By Scott Patterson
ACFE Media Relations Specialist

The UK Bribery Act will go into effect on July 1, 2011. Prior to this act, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was the boldest in compliance standards. The UK Bribery Act brings stronger initiatives into the international anti-corruption arena, and it needs to be addressed by companies and their officers.

This was the thrust of the message from Kenneth Yormark, CFE, CPA, CFF, during his lively presentation of "The UK Bribery Act - Raising the Bar Above the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act" at one of Tuesday's breakout sessions. Yormark, director at Navigant Consulting in New York, used the opportunity to expand on the concept of bribery as a whole and applied an examination of the new legal measure to help companies develop compliance plans and prevention measures against this fraud threat.

"Many people think if it's an acceptable cultural practice in the company, it's not a bribe. That's not true!" he said. "According to the UK Bribery Act, it has to be a law in that country the company is doing business, and then you can do it. That's a common misconception."

Read the full article here.