Companies unprepared for imminent Bribery Act
ALMOST 40 per cent of UK companies say they are unprepared for the implementation of the Bribery Act at the beginning of next month, with many saying even their top board members are not ready for the new rules.
One in six companies surveyed for a Thomson Reuters survey admitted they had not discussed the incoming legislation with senior executives, despite the deadline for compliance looming just two weeks from today.
Thirty-nine per cent of those polled said they needed more time to prepare for the act, which will introduce wide-reaching new anti-corruption rules to the UK, while a worrying one in five said they were unlikely to meet the deadline at all.
Top-level commitment is one of the six principles for compliance identified by the Ministry of Justice, yet according to the survey only one in three firms with an overseas parent board had thought it necessary to discuss the new rules with its board members.
While 53 per cent of companies said they thought they were on track to meet the 1 July deadline, just eight per cent said they felt completely prepared.