A compliance plan is an internal system or process that identifies and reduces the risk of breaching your business’s obligations under the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). It is therefore vital that your compliance plan is tailored to your business. Further, you should train your employees on how to carry out the plan.
Having a good compliance plan is one way you can ensure your business does everything properly. Here, we provide 7 tips on how you can create an effective compliance plan.
1. Assess Your Risks
Identifying the risks in every area of your business is critical in the success of your compliance plan. This includes your interaction with other customers, compliance with government regulations and your involvement with shareholders and stakeholders. Your compliance plan must revolve around addressing these risks. You can undertake an internal risk assessment by contacting a business lawyer and seeing areas where your business could run into trouble.
2. Build the Compliance Plan on Ethical Grounds
Incorporating your ethical responsibilities in your plan will help you find favour in the eyes of potential shareholders and stakeholders. This is because people are concerned about the values of your business, not just your eagerness to avoid any penalties. Your values will demonstrate what your business believes in and how you’ll nurture this as your business grows.
Additionally, having a values-based plan will display the ethics behind the legal obligations. This in turn will make it easier for employees to understand the reasons why they must follow these guidelines, and so it will be easier for them to comply with its provisions. To assist you in the process, it is recommended that you read about fair trading laws as these are your obligations under the ACCC.
3. Ensure That the Compliance Plan is Easy to Read
Your compliance plan needs to be clear enough so that any individual with a vested interest in your business can read it and understand it. This is important to ensure that everyone understands their obligations. Try to avoid using legal jargon and use simple sentences. Also ensure that your processes are simple and straightforward.
4. Continuously Develop Your Compliance Plan
As your business continues to grow, the risks that you will face will constantly change. Your business will be at risk if your compliance plan isn’t up to date. It is therefore important that your compliance plan is updated to ensure that your policies reflect the issues that your business faces. Dedicate time every quarter to make these changes. You will also need to consult the ACCC’s regulations as they may also change.
5. Involve Your Managers
Involving your managers in the generation of the compliance plan is vital for two main of reasons. Firstly, since you cannot be in more than one place at once, it is impossible for you to get a grasp of all of your business risks. You need to get advice from your managers to understand what issues their teams are facing. Also, managers need to be aware of these obligations to ensure that their team are also compliant.
6. Provide Training and Continuous Advice
Although you may have the perfect compliance plan, it is useless if your staff and managers are unaware of their obligations. Therefore, you need to ensure that training sessions are organised for all of your staff so that everyone is across the business’s ethical and legal requirements. Training needs to be consistent to keep staff updated on any developments made in the compliance plan. While it is suggested that you dedicate some time for your employees to be trained, ongoing advice can be sufficient. This can be done through regular emails, posters, or competitions to test their knowledge. Tailor your training sessions and advice to your business’s needs.
7. Put Disciplinary Measures in Place
In addition to outlining the legal responsibilities of all of your staff, you must also include a disciplinary measure if they are breached. Further, these measures need to apply to every staff member irrespective of their position within the business.
Conclusion
As seen from above, creating a thorough compliance plan is ideal in ensuring that your business meets its legal requirements. It facilitates a degree of transparency where every employee in the business is aware of their obligations. For this reason, it is vital that you get it right. As a result of this, you may like to speak with a business lawyer to help you throughout this process.
