We primarily operate in Asia which, overall can be described as an emerging market. Potentials and chances can be seen everywhere. However, the boundary between commercial opportunity and risk is fragile, and must be regularly reviewed and weighed up. As long as non-compliant actions are difficult to detect and hardly punished individuals are seduced to take advantage of the system. Besides the negative monetary effect which can be measured directly, the negative infiltration of the company culture and its values weigh heavily.
Our work is not only a legal or financial audit but more. We work on the ground and identify non-compliant actions, analyze critical processes, and implement a proven system to mitigate the risks for the future. Below we share some of the common cases of our daily assignments:
| • | How to control expenses for the purchase of local material and services. |
| • | How to deal with non-compliant relationships between staff and suppliers. |
| • | How to involve the finance department to play an effective role in the monitoring process. |
| • | How to control payments towards agents and distributors. |
| • | How to set-up clear rules for travel and entertainment expenses. |
| • | How to balance “being flexible enough to win deals” and “being fully compliant”. |
| • | How to react if the local competition undermines our company and influences the organization. |
| • | How to handle the situation if several individuals of our company are jointly taking advantage of us. |
| • | How to control finance without having anybody from headquarters placed in the local subsidiary. |
| • | Etc. |
An open door may tempt a saint – this saying implies that the temptingly easy access to company resources fosters non-compliant actions. There are several aspects which create a more challenging scenario for foreign companies in local markets like income disparities, different understanding of work ethic or simply language barriers.
NxtAsia is confronted and assigned in different stages of compliance cases.
Therefore our approach depends on the “stage” of non-compliant activities:
| • | Early stage – NxtAsia is involved in the establishment of the organization and its processes from the beginning. Based on our experience we focus on the selection of the right staff, on the assignment of clear roles &responsibilities, on the implementation of suitable KPIs and on installing an effective monitoring system. |
| • | Investigation stage – clients are approaching NxtAsia when there is a strong suspicion of misconduct within the organization or when a routine audit is part of the overall monitoring process. In such scenarios we send our audit team which is highly experienced in identifying specific evidence of misconduct and detecting the weaknesses of the current system. We work simultaneously on both tasks – firstly to collect evidence for any legal action against misconduct and secondly to create an updated system to prevent future cases. |
| • | Execution stage – when clients themselves have already collected evidence for misconduct or identified the weak points of the processes, NxtAsia has experienced partner supports and guides any necessary execution. Depending on the grade of misconduct our engagement can include re-setting the KPIs, implementing a control system but also the replacement of personnel and restructuring the organization. If needed our team initiates the change process and covers important positions during the change process. For any case – we grant the smooth continuation of your business. |
| • | Monitoring stage – we believe in preventing risks. For any of our assignments, disregarding the stage, we offer the implementation of monitoring tools to prevent future cases. The range of tools includes internal measures like coaching, installation of check-points, KPI setting, redefining approval processes but also external measures like regular audits. |
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