The high costs of conducting a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation continues to become painfully evident, as revealed by numerous companies in recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In just the last few weeks, a handful of companies—including Walmart, Avon, and News Corp.—have reported spending well beyond $100 million in FCPA-related investigation costs alone pertaining to multinational probes. For most companies, these costs are only rising.

Recent analysis conducted by Compliance Week takes a look at some of these latest investigation costs:

Avon

Cosmetics giant Avon disclosed in its 2012 annual report that it has spent a whopping $339.7 million since 2009 on “professional and related fees” associated with a global FCPA investigation and compliance reviews.  A breakdown of those costs shows the company spent $92.4 million in 2012; $93.3 million in 2011; $95 million in 2010; and $59 million in 2009. “While these fees are difficult to predict, we expect ongoing fees may vary during the course of these investigations and reviews,” Avon's annual report stated.

In June 2008, Avon commenced an internal investigation after hearing claims that travel, entertainment, and other expenses may have been improperly incurred in connection with the company's China operations. In July 2009, Avon reported that it had widened its investigations into possible FCPA violations into other countries, including Latin America.

News Corp.

Media giant News Corp. has reported incurring a total of $179 million so far on legal and professional fees related to allegations of bribery payments that emerged two years ago in connection with its now-infamous phone hacking scandals. The company has also reported spending an additional $191 million on costs for related civil settlements.

Walmart

Retail giant Walmart has disclosed in a Feb. 21 earnings release with the SEC that it has, thus far, incurred $157 million for “professional fees and expenses” related to its massive bribery and corruption scheme to win market share in Mexico in the early 2000s. That probe has since exploded into a global investigation over FCPA violations expanding recently into Brazil, India, and China.

That puts the investigation costs at Walmart for FY2013 at an average of $604,000 a day.

Walmart also disclosed that it has spent an additional $45 million in costs for the first quarter of fiscal year 2014 for “FCPA and compliance matters.”

Weatherford

Then there is oilfield services company Weatherford, which has disclosed in its annual report that through Sept. 30, 2012, it has incurred $125 million for legal and professional fees, and an additional $44 million from 2007 through 2009 in costs for ceasing operations in certain sanctioned countries.

The costs stem from several ongoing investigations of alleged bribery payments to government officials in Europe, Weatherford's participation in Iraq's oil-for-food program, and its past operations in certain sanctioned countries, including Sudan and Iran.

“We may have additional charges related to these matters in future periods, which costs may include labor claims, contractual claims, penalties assessed by customers, and costs, fines, taxes and penalties assessed by local governments, but we cannot quantify those charges or be certain of the timing of them,” the company stated.

As Compliance Week earlier reported, companies have several measures available to them to help contain the costs of a potential FCPA investigation. Sometimes it may just be a matter of promptly implementing remedial measures and revising and enhancing compliance policies and procedures.