COMPLIANCE BARRIERS

Barrier

Percent

Complexity of regulatory environment

69%

Complexity of designing compliance process

46%

Perception that comp-liance is not strategic

27%

Perception compliance not burden of all staff

15%

Inadequate IT for monitoring compliance

11%

Focus on cost cutting

11%

Inadequate staff skills

8%

Source: PwC

Results of PwC Survey On Compliance Costs

According to a small survey of generals counsel conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, most companies do not measure the cost of compliance programs.

Among the items most frequently mentioned as "not measured" were communication costs, indirect staffing costs, and business interruption and lost productivity.

According to Dan DiFilippo, U.S. Leader, Governance, Risk and Compliance at PwC, the failure to measure compliance efforts is "not surprising" considering most companies have just begun to understand those costs.

"I expect this situation to change fairly quickly as companies more closely examine the effectiveness and

efficiency of their compliance approach," noted DiFilippo.

None of the respondents reported that their company measures the value or return of compliance programs.

The complete study is available from the box at right.