天和财务沃尔玛贿赂门.doc

天和财务:

天和财务:沃尔玛贿赂门
--这只是冰山一角
Wal-Mart: Tip of Bribery Iceberg
来源：天和网
核心提示：跨国公司中贿赂的现象比较严重，贿赂问题是每个公司都有可能发生的问题，那又该如何解决呢？
The retailer is getting most of the ink these days for alleged corruption in Mexico, India, and perhaps other countries. But every global company is at risk for onerous FCPA violations.

【据cfo网站消息】这些天，零售商们因在墨西哥、印度或者还有其他国家中涉嫌贿赂，许多媒体都有报道，但是因违反《反海外腐败法》现象猖獗，每一个国际公司都存在危险。
Wal-Mart, embroiled in bribery investigations first in Mexico and now India, is hardly alone in its purported involvement in corruption, experts say. In fact, the mammoth retailer is “the tip of the iceberg,” says Charles Pautsch, a partner at law firm Arnstein & Lehr.
专家称，沃尔玛首先在墨西哥卷入了贿赂调查，现在又是在印度，但在其声称的贿赂犯罪中沃尔玛演的应该不是独角戏。安斯汀和莱尔律师事务所合伙人查尔斯说，事实上,庞大的零售商只是“冰山一角”。
Pautsch observes that enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was strong in the early 1980s, then “waned for a while but lately has been picking up substantially.” And as companies seek to do business in more places in the world, corruption will become an even bigger problem, he says.
查尔斯指出《反海外腐败法》(FCPA) 的执行在20世纪80年代比较严格，之后一段时期内有所减弱，但最近已经大幅度回升。而且，随着公司业务在世界范围内扩展，腐败将成为一个更大的问题。
Most often — up to 90% of the time, according to some estimates — violations are committed by third parties to which companies outsourced international operations. Large, global companies may not be able to eradicate such behavior, but to comply with U.S. and foreign regulations — and avoid million of dollars in fines and possible jail time — they need to make a very good effort.
大多数情况下——据估计高达90%——违规方大都是国际业务外包的第三方公司。大型跨国公司无法根除这种行为，但是为了合乎美国和外国法规——避免百万美元的罚款以及可能的监禁——他们需要作出很好的努力。
New FCPA guidelines released in October help businesses understand corruption guidelines and outline measures they can take to support compliance, including technological means of identifying and flagging questionable expenditures.
新《反海外腐败法》在10月份发布的指南可以帮助企业理解反腐指导方针以及为达到合规可以采取的基本措施，其中包括采用技术手段识别并标记出可疑支出。
Last April The New York Times reported that Wal-Mart had suppressed evidence that Mexican officials were bribed to procure locations for Wal-Mart stores. Stores were awarded desirable sites through zoning changes and despite environmental concerns, the article said.
去年4月《纽约时报》报道沃尔玛有压下不消的证据表明墨西哥政府官员收受贿赂为沃尔玛商店取得采购地点。文章称，虽然有环境问题，但是通过变更，商店获得了理想的位置。
On November 15, Wal-Mart announced that it is conducting its own investigations in “a number of foreign markets, including but not limited to” Mexico, India, China, and Brazil. Last week the company’s Indian joint venture, Bharti Walmart, reportedly suspended its CFO and legal team and delayed store openings.
11月15日，沃尔玛宣布，它正在对自己的几个国外市场进行调查，包括但是不限于墨西哥、印度、中国和巴西。上周该公司的印度合资企业Bharti Walmart称暂停其首席财务官和法律团队的工作，并延迟开店时间。
“As these matters are currently under review, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further on the specific allegations until we have concluded the investigations,” Wal-Mart said in a statement. “We are working diligently to strengthen our compliance programs and dedicating considerable resources to this effort. In fact, the company has spent more than $35 million on its global FCPA compliance review efforts over the past 18 months.”
沃尔玛在声明中说：“这些问题目前正在调查之中，在我们得出调查结果之前，进一步评论这次指控对我们来说是不适合的。我们正在努力加强我们的合规程序，并且为实现这一目标投入相当大的资源。实际上，在过去的18个月中，该公司在《反海外腐败法》全球合规上已经花了3500多万美元。”
Myriad regulations in some countries, like India, mean that a project on the scale of a new Wal-Mart could take years just to get the needed approvals, Pautsch says. Bribing government officials can greatly speed up the process, or even make a project happen that wouldn’t otherwise.
查尔斯谈到，在一些国家法规的数量特别多，例如印度，这意味着像新沃尔玛开张这样的项目就得花上几年的时间来获取需要的审批。贿赂政府官员可以大大加快这一过程,甚至使一个不可能成功的项目顺利实施。
Indeed, FCPA compliance with respect to bribery in foreign countries is a tall order for most global organizations. “Over the years, I’ve found it to be the toughest compliance issue that exists in business,” Pautsch says. “Training and computer-assisted guidance are necessary to stay on top of what has become a mammoth project.”
确实，对大多数全球组织来说，就贿赂而言《反海外腐败法》的海外合规是一个很高的要求。查尔斯认为，多年来,我发现它最艰难的合规问题存在于业务之中，为了保持领先水平，培训和计算机辅助指导是必要的，这成为一个庞大的工程。

Organizations are learning more about identifying suspicious transactions and unusual patterns, says John Verver, vice president of product strategy and alliances at ACL. “No matter how good your overall policies are, it’s hard to beat the benefits of actually monitoring vast numbers of transactions on an ongoing basis,” he says.

ACL产品策略和联盟机构副总裁约翰说，机构正在学习关于识别可疑交易和不寻常模式的更多知识，无论你的整体策略有多好，你也很难超越在流动的基础上真正监控大量交易所给你带来的好处。
Red flags include keywords referred to in FCPA guidelines, like “facilitation payments,” as well as unusual consulting fees, commissions, or charitable donations, notes Verver.
约翰指出，在《反海外腐败法》的指导方针中，包含了一些标志或者关键词例如便利费，以及不同寻常的咨询费用、手续费或者慈善捐款。
Other telltale signs are officials working overseas who have higher expenses than others in comparable positions, and expenses charged to entertainment or “other,” says Norman Marks, an internal-audit and risk-management practitioner with SAP.An organization that monitors for such red flags stands a good chance of catching fraud and bribery early, and if it does, the government will give it “a lot of credit,” Marks says.
另外一个犯罪迹象就是，一些海外工作人员的开销比起其他类似职务要高，并且费用是娱乐或者是“其他”，SAP内部审计和风险管理从业者马克斯说到。他说，企业监视这样的人员是提早抓出诈骗和贿赂的好机会，而且这样做政府会给公司“大量贷款”。
During the past four years, companies have paid more than $2 billion in fines to the U.S. government arising from FCPA violations. As recently as 2004, the annual total was only $11 million.Germany-based conglomerate Siemens alone paid a total of $1.6 billion to U.S. and German authorities in 2008 for violating FCPA accounting and record-keeping provisions.
在过去的4年中，公司因违反《反海外腐败法》已经向美国政府支付了超过20亿美元的罚款，在2004年时，年总额只有1100万美元。2008年，仅德国西门子公司就因违反《反海外腐败法》中会计和记录的规定，向美国和德国政府上交了总计16亿美元的罚款。
Pautsch says companies may not examine applicable regulations carefully enough before launching operations in a new country. If they did exercise more care, they might in some cases choose not to do business there after all. But the business opportunities in a country may look so great that a company is willing to take on significant FCPA risk, Pautsch notes. And some companies may believe expanding into a new market is possible because they employ an intermediary familiar with the local regulations and customs.
查尔斯说，公司在新的国家开始业务前，可能没有仔细检查适用法规。如果他们更仔细些，在某种情况下他们可能根本不会在那开展业务，但是如果一个国家中商业机会特别诱人，那么有的公司可能会选择冒着违反《反海外腐败法》的巨大风险。一些公司认为进入一个新市场是有可能的，因为他们可以聘请一个熟悉当地规定和风俗的中介人。
Companies should investigate whether such a third party shares their cultural values. One that is too eager to help “may guide you into the worst dark alley”. In the case of Wal-Mart in Mexico, he observes, “the startling thing was that [many] of the accused intermediaries were law firms.”Criminal penalties under the FCPA for those found liable for such transactions include jail time of up to 5 years for bribery and 20 or more years for accounting fraud, says Pautsch.
公司应当调查一下自己的中介人是否认同自己的文化价值观。一个急于帮助你的人很可能会“引你进入阴暗的小巷中”。查尔斯观察到，沃尔玛在墨西哥的案子中，最令人吃惊的地方是（许多）被人指责的中介人居然是律师事务所。根据《反海外腐败法》，犯有贿赂罪的人将受5年监禁，会计诈骗的为20年以上的刑事处罚。
Accounting activities that most often run afoul of the FCPA include maintaining internal controls and systems for auditing third parties. There is “extensive tie-in” between the FCPA and controls required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and violations can result in fines under both laws.
会计活动中最容易违反《反海外腐败法》的是内部系统维护和第三方审计系统。在《反海外腐败法》和萨班斯-奥克斯利法案的控制要求中有很多交叠之处，一旦违背可能会受到双重惩罚。
A key to maintaining compliance is continuous training, says Marks. A retail company, for example, with high employee turnover — say, 20% to 30% — should be training every quarter, he says.
马克说，要想符合法律规定，一个关键点就是连续训练。例如零售公司员工流动率高——大概是20%-30%——因此应该每个季度都进行培训。
Company executives focused on performance and day-to-day operations may be comforted by having training programs as well as an FCPA policy and a code of ethics. But those measures aren’t sufficient without a mechanism showing that people understand the correct procedures and are following them, Marks says. Internal audit should take the lead in examining the company’s preventive activities and determining whether the message is coming through.
公司高管将注意力放在公司业绩和日常操作上，有一个培训计划是有好处的，再加上一个《反海外腐败法》的政策和道德守则。但是马克斯说如果没有一种途径证明员工已经明白什么是正确的规程并且正在这样实施的话，这些措施也不是有效的。内部审计应带头检查公司的预防活动并且确定信息是否传达。
编译：王娜
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