Liability or Ethics?

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to reconsider a traditional approach to the compliance function of firms from a modern perspective, which broadens its concept as a company's liability to only secure its adherence to applicable laws and avoid regulatory sanctions in serving company's interests. The observation of issues regulated by the compliance function in the contest of managing situations of conflict of interest (COI) in different spheres concludes that, in fact, those issues, to a greater extent, relate to sustaining ethical behavior in business rather than stem from regulatory norms. Based on the findings of this analysis as well as other different sources, a new definition for effective compliance has been developed with the focus on adherence to ethical principles in respect to third parties, which addresses compliance function in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its sustainability role setting a vector for a further research.