5 Top Tips to Minimise Company Compliance Risk
Company compliance is a complex and moving beast but it’s an essential part of running a business in Australia. Regulatory law around company compliance places heavy responsibilities on businesses and companies, with law suits and civil action are at an all-time high.
The truth is that putting resources into properly achieving company compliance saves money, time and the big one—stress. We’d all like a little less worry in our lives, wouldn’t we?
So, we’ve prepared 5 top tips to approaching company compliance that minimise the harm or loss your business is exposed to.
1. Stay on top of ASIC updates
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an important ally for Australian operations. Officially, it is the independent Australian Government body that enforces and regulates company and financial services laws to protect consumers, investors and creditors. Unofficially, it is a lot like an old city library with thousands of books to pore through (laws) and new resources coming in all the time (more laws). Luckily for us, ASIC is great at communicating new rules and regulations, particularly to registered ASIC representatives like CCASA. You can get in touch with us to find out the latest ASIC updates, or you can read the latest ASIC media releases to stay up to date.
2. Trust the experts
Company compliance risk basically means your business or company’s exposure to penalties, financial forfeiture and material loss when it fails to act in accordance with government legislation. Most of us understand that nasty concept but what many people miss is the mitigation of risk they don’t know about. You may think you are doing the right thing, following all the rules and regulations, but as we mentioned above these rules change like Melbourne’s weather. It’s hard to keep abreast of all the rules you need to follow. So, find an expert you can trust and develop a partnership to streamline ongoing company compliance processes.
3. Use approved lawyers
A lawyer is a lawyer is lawyer, right? Wrong! Lawyers specialise in many different fields and like any profession, range in quality and professionalism. If you’re managing most of your company compliance yourself, make sure the documents you are downloading are ratified and signed off by approved lawyers. Or better yet, purchase a compliance package that automatically updates documents through approved lawyers that maintain regulatory standards and best practice.
4. Foster a positive culture
Promote integrity, ethical conduct and compliance with the law within your organisation and you immediately reduce your compliance risk. Of course this approach must come from the top but it also requires middle management to promote and model ethical behaviours, and staff to feel comfortable in speaking up about compliance queries or concerns. Agree on common values and work towards these goals as an organisation— you’ll find that company compliance feels less like a roadblock and more like an achievement.
5. Follow best practice
Compliance with the Corporations Act 2001 is certainly the first step to minimising your risk but you can take this further. Partnering with compliance experts who are on top of best practice can really streamline your business processes. This can save you time and money, and assist your organisation to achieve financial and operational goals in ways you had not considered.
Sign up to the CCASA newsletter to stay on top of all this and much more.