Dear TIPS Member,
As we enter the festive season, TIPS would like to thank all of you for continuing to support and engage TIPS during this difficult year. As with us all, TIPS has looked to adapt to 2020 and has seen some excellent online engagement since March, not least through this month’s inaugural TIPS Virtual Career Panel, which was perhaps the most international event TIPS has hosted, with 59 attendees joining from Sweden, France, Malaysia and Argentina. You can read a summary of this event below.
In December, Transparency International is participating in the Big Give Christmas Challenge. At this uncertain time, the Big Give presents a fantastic and worthwhile opportunity to support the vital work of Transparency International. Whether it is carrying out targeted campaigning directly to politicians and businesses or conducting pioneering research, it aims to raise anti-corruption standards, increase accountability and create genuine, systematic change in the fight against corruption. The challenge runs from 1 December to 8 December.
Any donations made through the Big Give will automatically be doubled. Any support you give to enable TI UK’s essential work through the Big Give Christmas Challenge will be gratefully received. Please give generously here.
Please see below the TIPS Newsletter for November 2020. We look forward to seeing you (online) soon.
- the TIPS team
1. Upcoming Events (register on our Events page)
How to Spot an Accounting Fraud: An Interview with Short-Seller Carson Block | 3 Dec 2020 | 5:30 PM GMT
The Corruption Pandemic: Challenges to health, stability & accountability | Wed 9 Dec 2020 | 6-7pm GMT
2. Recent Events
TIPS Careers Panel | Summary
On 25 November, the TIPS Network hosted its inaugural Careers Panel with great success! 59 attendees – including students, academics and professionals – joined to learn about careers paths to tackling financial crime.
The event was introduced and moderated by TIPS Outreach Lead Adam Bakran and TIPS Committee Chair James Ford. TIPS members Pete Chapman, Sofia Tirini, James Hensser, and Helene Kadjar spoke on the panel and reflected on their experiences working to tackle financial crime in different legal, accounting and compliance organisations and roles. This was followed by breakout rooms with other TIPS members that facilitated a wide-ranging discussions in a smaller group setting.
Many thanks to all the panellists for sharing their experiences and career advice, and particular thanks to Adam Bakran for orchestrating this excellent event.
TIPS Virtual Talk | Summary
On 30 November, 13 TIPS members attended an engaging discussion on measuring the effectiveness of compliance programmes in practice.
TIPS Member Reecha Patel, Assistant Manager at EY, and TIPS Committee Member Helene Kadjar, Business Integrity Manager at Unilever, shared their own experiences from both an advisory and corporate perspective before facilitating a lively discussion on why compliance programmes fail and how they can be enhanced in practice.
3. One Minute Reads
New One Minute Reads have been uploaded to the TIPS website. Please do click the link to read more – perfect for your morning/evening WFH coffee break!
4. Items of Interest
TI blogs.
- The credibility of pharmaceutical companies is on the line, will they get it right? See here.
- Closing the loopholes – an opportunity to fix Scotland’s lobbying register. See here.
- The G20 and anti-corruption: time to heed the call. See here.
Podcasts.
- The Dark Money Files. A long-standing but excellent podcast on financial crime fighting in all forms; the newest episode is a primer on UWOs. Listen here.
News items.
- SFO opens bribery investigation into Bombardier. See here.
- Firm run by a Conservative councillor awarded non-competitive Covid contract. See here.
- World Bank appoints new investigations director. See here.
- SFO reaches £1.2 million settlement with former SBM Offshore middleman. Read here.
Other items.
- New OECD report offers rare window into FCPA enforcement. See here.
- Decline in DOJ-mandated monitorships as companies invest in compliance. Read more here.
French legal think tank, Club des Juristes, calls for Sapin II to be adopted as a model for an EU-wide anti-corruption legislation. Read here and full report here.
5. Jobs Board
- Advocacy and research coordinator, Transparency International Ireland (Dublin, Ireland). See here.
- Consultant Senior Advisor China (flexible location), Global Witness, Washington DC, US. See here
- Campaign Manager, Amnesty International UK, Belfast, Northern Ireland or remote. See here.