Decrease Bribery Risk with ISO 37001:2016 ABMS

Bribery and corruption are worldwide problems with serious consequences for organisations of any size, industry or region. To help combat this threat, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) issued the ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS) standard. This standard helps businesses, nonprofits and governmental agencies to reduce their risk of bribery and corruption, How? By establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an anti-bribery management system.

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The ISO 37001:2016 standard mirrors numerous steps contained in the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act 2010 and other major legislation aimed to curb bribery and corruption and increase punishments resulting from its occurrence. When an organisation makes the decision to move forward with ISO 37001:2016 ABMS training and certification, the benefits are immediate. That’s because ISO 37001:2016 puts methods in place that do the following:

• Ensure that your organisation is implementing a viable anti-bribery management system using widely accepted controls and systems.
• Give your company the tools it needs to prevent bribery and mitigate related risks
• Provide assurance to management, investors, business associates, personnel and other stakeholders that the organisation is actively pursuing internationally recognised and accepted processes to prevent bribery and corruption.
• Help your company create new and better business partnerships with entities that recognise your certified status, including supply chain manufacturing, joint ventures, pending acquisitions and co-marketing alliances
• Potentially reduce corporate insurance premiums
• Provide your customers, stakeholders, employees and partners with confidence in your business operations and ethics
• Provide a competitive edge over non-certified organisations in your industry or niche
• Provide acceptable evidence to prosecutors or courts that the organisation has taken reasonable steps to prevent bribery and corruption

ISO 37001:2016 certifies that your organisation has implemented reasonable and proportionate measures to prevent bribery. These measures involve top-level leadership, training, bribery risk assessment, due diligence adequacy, financial and commercial controls, reporting, audit and investigation.

Impacting your corporate culture

An organisation that takes a firm stand against bribery and corruption, and makes compliance standards a priority, will see the effects among its employees and in its corporate culture. After all, ISO 37001:2016 isn’t just for the security team or executives. It involves the entire organisation. Staff learn how to recognise red flags of noncompliance for bribery and fraud, and how to report them. They also gain an understanding that the organisation won’t tolerate unethical behaviour, especially when it comes to bribery and corruption. For example, many employees in today’s workforce might think they understand what bribery and corruption are – but they probably don’t recognise the many different ways it can manifest itself in the business world. ABAC® Certified™ training and certification process for ISO 37001:2016 educates your personnel and helps your company address bribery in all its forms, including:

• In the public, private and not-for-profit sectors
• By the organisation
• By the organisation’s personnel acting on the organisation’s behalf or for its benefit
• By the organisation’s business associates acting on the organisation’s behalf or for its benefit
• Of the organisation
• Of the organisation’s personnel in relation to the organisation’s activities
• Of the organisation’s business associates in relation to the organisation’s activities
• Direct and indirect bribery (e.g. a bribe offered or accepted through or by a third party) (Source: ISO 37001 ABMS Standard)

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Expert training from an accredited body

CRI Group’s ABAC® Certification services are accredited by the Emirates International Accreditation Center (EIAC) for administering the ISO 37001:2016 anti-bribery standard, and has leading experts administering the 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems certification program. ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management System Certification reflects international best practices and can be used in all jurisdictions. It is applicable to small, medium and large organizations in all sectors, including public, private and not-for-profit sectors. reduce the risk of bribery and corruption by establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving your management system. When everyone is on the same page and playing as a team, the organisation is stronger because employees trust one another to do the right thing. Those “gray areas” of rule-bending and non-compliance are no longer gray. The organisation culture dictates that only ethical behaviour and compliance with anti-bribery and anti-fraud standards will be acceptable.

When an organisation undertakes ISO 37001:2016 training, employees understand that ethical behaviour is the norm, and anything outside of those bounds will be punished – especially criminal acts like bribery and corruption – perhaps with the loss of their job, or even prosecution. ABAC® Certification provides three levels of training ensure that employees get the instruction they need: Introductory Training, Internal Auditor Training, and Lead Auditor Training. ABAC® conducts ISO 37001:2016 training in a classroom setting, providing face-to-face interaction with expert instructors. The training helps establish an ethical culture by educating your employees on the following:

• What constitutes fraud, corruption, and bribery, and why these are so damaging to business
• How to identify red flags of fraud, corruption and bribery
• The process for reporting fraudulent and unethical acts
• The organisation’s zero-tolerance attitude toward unethical behaviour and willingness to terminate employees for breaches, and prosecute unethical acts
• The serious ramifications for committing fraud or bribery, the legal consequences, and the negative impact on one’s career

The time is now to take action against bribery and corruption – the world is watching, and organisations that make anti-bribery and anti-corruption and compliance a priority are poised to be successful. ISO 37001:2016 provides the layer of security, and as it is stated in the standard itself, “Conformity with this document cannot provide assurance that no bribery has occurred or will occur in relation to the organisation, as it is not possible to completely eliminate the risk of bribery. However, this document can help the organisation implement reasonable and proportionate measures designed to prevent, detect and respond to bribery”. The benefits are long-lasting and far reaching. Most importantly, when you engage ABAC® ’s training and certification program, you are assured that an accredited team of experts is working with your organisation to implement a top-of-the-line program that is tailored to your needs and accomplishes your goals.

> Need a reason for ISO 37001 certification? How about 25 of them? Check out our ABAC® “25 Benefits of ISO 37001 ABMS Certification” article now!

Whether your organisation is a corporation, nonprofit, or government agency, you can start enjoying the benefits of ABAC® Certification’s ISO 37001:2016 training and certification immediately. Learn more about ABAC®  Certification and ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management System today. 

Who is CRI Group?

Based in London, CRI Group works with companies across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific as a one-stop international Risk Management, Employee Background Screening, Business Intelligence, Due Diligence, Compliance Solutions and other professional Investigative Research solutions provider. We have the largest proprietary network of background-screening analysts and investigators across the Middle East and Asia. Our global presence ensures that no matter how international your operations are we have the network needed to provide you with all you need, wherever you happen to be. CRI Group also holds BS 102000:2013 and BS 7858:2012 Certifications, is an HRO certified provider and partner with Oracle.

In 2016, CRI Group launched Anti-Bribery Anti-Corruption (ABAC®) Center of Excellence – an independent certification body established for ISO 37001:2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems, ISO 37301 Compliance Management Systems and ISO 31000:2018 Risk Management, providing training and certification. ABAC® operates through its global network of certified ethics and compliance professionals, qualified auditors and other certified professionals. As a result, CRI Group’s global team of certified fraud examiners work as a discreet white-labelled supplier to some of the world’s largest organisations. Contact ABAC® for more on ISO Certification and training.

Prove That Your Business is Ethical for FREE

Complete our FREE Highest Ethical Business Assessment (HEBA) & evaluate your current Corporate Compliance Program. Find out if your organisation’s compliance program is in the line with worldwide Compliance, Business Ethics, Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Frameworks. Let ABAC® experts prepare a complimentary gap analysis of your compliance program to evaluate if it meets “adequate procedures” requirements under UK Bribery Act, DOJ’s Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs Guidance and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.