Compliance and Monitoring programs are specially tailored to help financial institutions, brokerages, and businesses stay out of trouble and proactively prevent money laundering.
Usually a Compliance and Monitoring program starts with a Forensic Security Audit, which can help answer critical questions or prevent future problems. Such an audit, for example, may entail a complete examination of the procedures and systems a company uses to deliver and sell a product in a foreign market or to recruit a new client. The audit includes the following reviews:
Background checks on customers, suppliers, and employees. An examinations of internal control policies and procedures relative to compliance with relevant laws and regulations. An analysis of contractual arrangements, financial and business relationships, and transaction procedures. Monitoring
Once the audit is completed, BERG Associates recommend adjusting systems and procedures to address deficits. For businesses, this may entail procedures to ensure that a product is being purchased, distributed, and sold in a legal, competitive manner. This may be collaborative program to ensure employee adherence to all corporate and external regulatory laws and procedures that includes the following:
An Annual Letter to Suppliers and Customers. Legal Guidelines for employees and vendors to follow. Spot check audits to verify compliance with the systems and procedures. Systems to verify the appropriate control and use of all company or bank assets. Such programs can also include:
Background checks on new personnel or clients. A review of business agreements or new customer records. An analysis of procedures for pricing the product and receiving payments. A review of external business relationships, including banks and advertising agency. Recommendations for new procedures and safeguards. Deliverables can include a detailed report of findings and a database with the profiles/credit reports of key outside contacts. Periodic, surprise spot checks to ensure the integrity of the distribution and pricing system.
Countering Contraband
Unauthorized distribution of products may be part of an illegal scheme, such as smuggling, tax avoidance or money laundering. We design and monitor systems to help you ensure that distributors properly sell and protect the integrity of your product and that payments originate from legal sources. Meeting the international demand for consumer and industrial goods is a important goal of any thriving business. Meeting this demand requires overcoming several challenges, such as:
Ensuring your distributors have adequate, legal sources of capital to purchase your product; Preventing competitors from stealing your product or creating illegal imitations; Corporations face potential liabilities from not taking aggressive action against Black Market activities. These can include:
The unauthorized distribution of a company’s product; Purchase of foreign exchange with black market funds; Smuggling goods from one country to the next as part of a tax avoidance scheme; Price suppression for normal sales of the product, eroding market share for authorized distributors, creating less prestige associated with products sold in gray markets BERG Associates provide clients with expert advice on these matters by verifying the backgrounds of potential distributors and their ongoing activities. BERG can determine if a distributor meets your compliance requirements for the sale of your product. BERG also can investigate whether or not your product is being sold in appropriate markets.
BERG’s analysis can establish whether transfer pricing issues are causing authorized distributors to suffer from a “back wash” of product entering their sales areas in an unauthorized fashion. BERG can help a company verify that distributors are properly importing and exporting the company product. BERG also can help businesses determine if organized crime groups are using unlawful monies to purchase your goods in worldwide money laundering schemes and thereby potentially subjecting your business assets to asset forfeiture actions. In addition, BERG can review contract disputes with authorized distributors, tax consequences, foreign corrupt practices and mitigate the risk of asset forfeiture actions against the companies assets.
Key Benefits
Ensures corporate officers have taken all necessary steps to protect their company’s product from criminal subversion. Educates officers, managers, and employees on proactive steps to detect and prevent criminal schemes, such as money laundering. Establishes compliance standards and procedures that mitigate corporate exposure to litigation and prosecution. Reduces company exposure to financial losses from transfer pricing schemes that deflate sales revenues.
Puts the company on the record as upholding the highest standard for ethical business practice.
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