What is a Compliance Committee? (Overview, Roles, and Responsibilities)

  • By: Adam Wire
  • July 28, 2023
Compliance committee
Reading Time: 3 minutes

All organizations, regardless of their industry, require compliance to various regulations and guidelines. In highly-regulated sectors like health care, the importance of compliance is amplified. A robust compliance committee, empowered by board portal software, helps organizations meet governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) requirements while safeguarding business interests.

What is a Compliance Committee?

What is a compliance committee? A compliance committee is a group or team within an organization that oversees compliance with regulatory requirements, industry standards, and internal controls.

In plainer terms, your compliance committee makes sure your organization obeys all laws and rules. This includes legal requirements, but also standards, best practices, and internal rules that may be determined by your operating documents or bylaws.

The committee handles compliance at the executive and strategic level, working closely with their organization’s corporate governance committee and audit committee. The committee should act in accordance with a board committee charter.

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Compliance Committee Responsibilities

A compliance committee’s responsibilities include:

Policy Development

Your organization needs a compliance program that includes internal policies and procedures that help all employees comply with the rules. This should also include guidelines for reputation management. 

Your compliance committee is ultimately responsible for developing these policies, which range from rules to ensure compliance with laws and regulations to best practices when handling employee data. These policies should be outlined in a document, and the committee is responsible for oversight and ensuring adherence.

Risk Assessment

Compliance failures carry with them a number of risks. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Legal fines and penalties
  • Lawsuits from customers and/or employees
  • Reputational damage
  • Customer and/or employee mistrust
  • Downtime and/or injury to employees resulting from failure to comply with safety regulations
  • Loss of productivity
  • Quality assurance failures leading to costly product recalls

Not all these risks affect every company, but every company has compliance risks. The committee is responsible for determining which risks apply to their business, and assessing the best way to mitigate them at the strategic and executive levels. 

Monitoring and Reporting

Your compliance committee has ultimate responsibility for your compliance program and ensuring that it continues to operate correctly. This requires monitoring and adapting to regulatory changes. 

In the case of compliance breaches, the committee oversees the reporting process and investigates to determine the root cause and identify corrective actions to prevent future occurrences. The committee is also responsible for preparing and submitting mandated reports to regulatory authorities. 

Training and Education

The compliance committee plays a crucial role in education and training within an organization. Their responsibilities in this area involve designing and implementing comprehensive compliance training programs for employees and relevant stakeholders. Training topics include the latest regulatory requirements, internal policies, and ethical standards that govern the organization’s operations.

Continued Improvement

Last but not least, the committee is responsible for continuing to improve compliance techniques. The committee should meet regularly to take reports, view data, and discuss trends. Additionally, they need to be made aware of regulatory changes or new standards that might affect how you manage compliance. 

OnBoard Powers Effective Committees

A compliance committee’s work is vital and ongoing. It’s responsible for assessing and mitigating risk, overseeing training and reports, developing and updating policies, and ensuring the continued improvement of compliance practices. This requires regular and effective meetings. 

OnBoard streamlines governance with a secure board portal that features user-friendly design, intuitive meeting creation tools, insightful analytics, and real-time collaboration. In addition, its secure system of record limits exposure to risk and reduces the number of vulnerable endpoints. Its processes for managing, handling, and processing data adhere to stringent national and international information security and data protection standards, including but not limited to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, and ISO 27001.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

  • What are the Functions of a Compliance Committee?

    A compliance committee handles your company's compliance policies at the executive level. They determine policy, assess risk, set training targets, and provide required reports.

  • What Makes a Good Compliance Committee?

    A good compliance committee brings together expertise from the areas most affected by compliance. This includes legal, human resources, and IT, but may vary by company. You need committee members who understand all the rules, regulations, and standards that impact your company.

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About The Author

Adam Wire
Adam Wire
Adam Wire is a Content Marketing Manager at OnBoard who joined the company in 2021. A Ball State University graduate, Adam worked in various content marketing roles at Angi, USA Football, and Adult & Child Health following a 12-year career in newspapers. His favorite part of the job is problem-solving and helping teammates achieve their goals. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and two dogs. He’s an avid sports fan and foodie who also enjoys lawn and yard work and running.