‍If you think compliance is expensive try non-compliance.

When running a business, we are required to put in place systems and process that would ensure that we are protected and the business is in firm footing for growth. Some of the systems requirements are driven by the government and some are self-generated.

Compliance it can be divided into three main groups:

1.     Legal and regulatory compliance: These are the regulatory requirements that all the businesses need to adhere to as mandated by the law. They range from business registration and type, to tax filing, labour relations and business permits. There are specific compliance regulations that are specific to some sectors and so you need to be aware of the laws that regulate your business and industry and understand them. You also need to be aware of any news of changes that are likely to occur and plan yourself accordingly.

2.     Financial compliance: This is the compliance with specific financial performance and financing metrics. They can be either company specific or legal requirements.  The key is to ensure that they are helping with the overall growth of the company by increasing overall profitability.

3.     Operational Compliance: For business to grow they should be anchored on strong and good operating systems. It is therefore important to create operational procedures that can be easily adhered to and that are less costly.  Some of these operational compliance issues helps in raising a company’s profile and keeping it stable.

When looking at the key compliance requirement’s below are some of the key considerations:

1.     The sector of operation: Some sectors are highly regulated for example financial services, health and construction.Understanding the compliance requirements is therefore important.

2.     The vision of the business in terms of scalability: If you need to grow your business, it makes sense to ensure that you create strong processes and they are easily adhered to.

3.     The source of capital: Good business compliance makes it easy to attract capital on good terms. Someone looking to get third party capital should ensure that they look at the three compliance buckets making sure that they are in line with the best practices.

4.     The cost of compliance: One should put in place easy and cost-effective compliance requirements and solutions.

Below are the basic steps that one might need to employ when working on identifying compliance needs and attaining compliance.

1.     Review the business model and identify the key compliance requirement’s

2.     Create and document all the processes in a process manual and create a clear checklist of what is to be done.

3.     Automate most of the repetitive compliance tasks, and if they cannot be automated a calendar reminder of the same should be put in place.

4.     Work with the team on all the above and ensure you are creating a culture of compliance across the organization so that people understand their roles.

5.     Keep abreast with changes in your areas and ensure you are updating your processes and manuals.

Compliance discussions and implementation are a necessity for any business. This is because the alternative can be very costly. Th investment in knowledge of what is to be done is key. One of the best ways to ensure this is by working with professionals when identifying and documenting the various key requirements. Some of these professionals would include lawyers, tax experts among others.

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