While the tough economic times have impacted compliance and ethics efforts, the hit hasn't been as bad as some expected, according to a recent survey of compliance executives.

Overall, compliance budgets fared better for 2009 than compliance professionals expected, and the outlook is more upbeat for 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association.

The poll found that compliance spending stayed stronger than anticipated, with roughly three out of four companies keeping compliance spending flat or increasing it in 2009.

"For the most part, compliance has fared better than many other areas of corporate spending, and even better than compliance professionals anticipated," Roy Snell, SCCE chief executive officer, said.

While just 15 percent of those polled in 2008 expected their budgets to increase somewhat or a great deal in 2009, 26 percent of those surveyed at the end of the 2009 reported that their budget had increased, according to SCCE and HCCA.

Moreover, fewer executives reported budget cuts than anticipated. While 36 percent had anticipated that their budgets would decrease somewhat or a great deal in 2009, by the end of the year, just 27 percent reported that their budgets had decreased, according to the findings.

"This shows that the business community has come to realize that the price of cutting back on compliance far exceeds any potential rewards," said Snell.

Looking ahead, roughly a third of the group expect a budget increase in 2010, more than twice the number that expected budgets to rise in 2009. Seven percent of respondents anticipate their budgets will increase a great deal in 2010, and another 26 percent expect budgets to increase marginally.

At the same time, roughly 21 percent anticipate a budget decrease this coming year, with 15 percent expecting a marginal decrease, and 6 percent predicting a substantial decrease. Nearly half (46) of the group expect their 2010 budget to stay about the same.

The survey also revealed that for staffing the picture was brighter than expected. At the end of 2008, 21 percent anticipated a decrease in staffing and just 11 percent expected the compliance staff to increase. However, 24 percent of 2009 respondents reported a staffing increase and only 18 percent saw a decrease.

Meanwhile, the majority of respondents (70 percent) expect staffing to stay about the same. Only 18 percent expect an increase in staffing—with 15 percent expecting a marginal increase and 3 percent expecting staffing to increase a great deal.

However, just 13 percent expect either a marginal (8 percent) or substantial (5 percent) decrease in staffing in 2010, compared to 18 percent that saw compliance program staffing decrease in 2009.

Compliance execs' personal job security concerns remain. When asked if they feel that their position is more at risk than others in their organization, 25 percent felt that their job is somewhat or much more at risk, nearly unchanged from the 22 percent who gave the same answer a year ago.

Asked how concerned they are personally about losing their job as a result of the economy, 11 percent reported being very concerned about losing their jobs, up slightly from 8 percent at the end of 2008. Most (45 percent) were somewhat concerned, while 44 percent said they weren't concerned at all.

At the same time, perceived risk of compliance and ethics failures remained about the same as a year ago, with roughly a third of those polled believing that the current economy has greatly increased the risk of a failure.

The complete survey can be downloaded for free here.

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