The report, ‘Steering the Course: Navigating bribery and corruption risk’, was based on interviews with more than 600 chief compliance officers from the US, UK, Continental Europe and Asia.

Sales pressure

A majority (57 per cent) of respondents felt that the biggest challenge when trying to reduce the risk of bribery and corruption is sales pressure, while 59 per cent fear losing their jobs if they don’t meet sales targets and 66 per cent say their company is better at developing guidelines than implementing them.

‘Lack of tone’

This is unlikely to be helped by a perceived ‘lack of tone’ from the top, with the study also showing that 43 per cent of chief executives are not willing to walk away from a contract where there is a high bribery or corruption risk and 39 per cent don’t openly support AB&C in the business.

’Raises structural questions’

The report said the fact less than half (39 per cent) of CCOs report directly to the chief executive, reporting instead to the general counsel or chief financial officer, could affect how seriously the rest of the organisation takes compliance. Information being filtered through others also makes it almost impossible for the CEO to make informed decisions and ‘raises structural questions as to whether companies need to reconsider reporting lines in light of a rapid increase in legal exposure in this area’.