Stricter enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, combined with Sarbanes-Oxley’s accounting requirements and an aggressive plaintiffs bar, has increased the litigation risk for public companies and their executives. Although the FCPA preceded SOX by 30 years, the internal controls, rules and compliance regime imposed by SOX forced companies to tie their FCPA compliance programs to their financial control and reporting to avoid additional liability for themselves, their directors and their executives from government agencies or shareholders.
