A Business Case Study on the Compliance Industry

The Compliance Practitioners Initiative Qualifying People with Confidence

The compliance industry has seen tremendous growth and maturation over the past few decades. The rate of adoption by companies and governments is a testament to the success of this movement and its permanence in international business.  However, there are still shortcomings in the compliance system and a lack of industry standards to qualify CSR, environmental and quality control practitioners. To improve transparency and reliability in the compliance industry, Intertek has adopted the Compliance Practitioners Initiative (CPI).

The Compliance Practitioners Initiative is a global qualification for practitioners in the testing, inspection and certification (TCI) industry. While companies and some technical schools provide training to prepare compliance practitioners, the training quality is uneven. In addition a gap exists between practitioners who have the expertise and ethics to uphold those standards recognized by international bodies and stakeholders, and others who are either unqualified or wish to undermine such standards for the sake of personal gain.

Challenges to the Compliance Industry

• No widely adopted industry qualification system: There is a lack of a qualification that recognizes those who are knowledgeable and have experience in the compliance field.
• Lack of transparency:  There is no easy way to verify the qualifications of personnel who have worked across companies. Similarly, experienced compliance professionals have trouble connecting with the companies that need them.
• Lack of trust & reliability in the industry poses a risk to brands, consumers and communities.
• No training program meets both local and global needs: Public compliance trainings are either unavailable or unreliable. As a result companies spend valuable resources training personnel to meet their expectations. Similarly, while the TIC industry has grown out of globalization, auditing programs are still only local with no unified body to train the same principles across international borders.

Solution: The Compliance Practitioners Initiative

CPI provides solution to these problems and an opportunity to improve the standard of compliance personnel. Accredited by City & Guilds and developed by qualified compliance experts, CPI aims improve professionalism and ethics within the industry,  recognize qualified personnel and provide a capacity building resource.

• Globally accredited qualification with localized adoption strategy: The Compliance Practitioners Initiative brings a qualification to ensure that TIC practitioners have consistent ethics and standards regardless of who they work for or where they are on the globe. In line with our goal to provide training excellence, the CPI training program is City & Guilds accredited. City & Guilds is a leader in vocational accreditation and qualifies nearly two million people in 80 countries every year.
• Global program with localized training content: Starting in the manufacturing hubs of China and India, CPI aims to provide a worldwide qualification that maintains high standards with localized training and examination content.
• Verified & living auditor profile for reference check: With CPI, there is an online platform for companies to verify the living profile of current or potential employees and connect qualified people to the businesses that need them.
• Public website listing membership status and certificate information: As an objective record of personnel qualifications and experience, available for review via an online platform, CPI bolsters the incentive to maintain excellence in ethics for participating practitioners.

Starting with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Auditor training and certification, CPI aims to provide certification for environmental and quality control professionals that serve the compliance needs for companies in-house or for third-party compliance bodies. Through CPI, people can get the training they need, experienced practitioners can achieve the certification they deserve and enterprises can find qualified people to meet their demands.

To ensure that the CPI training programs meet the highest levels of international expectations, the program has been reviewed and accredited by City & Guilds. City & Guilds (www.cityandguilds.com) is a UK based, royal chartered accreditation charity. With over 100 years of history accrediting countless training programs around the globe, City & Guilds knows how to ensure that a training program is effective and consistent. Their suggestions and guidance in developing the training methodology have been an important factor in the success of CPI not just as a qualification, but a capacity building program.
 
 

Building transparency and accountability in the field is an important aspect of CPI and the website www.compliancepractitioners.com is an important tool in this process. The website includes a public directory of all CPI members which is a resource for companies seeking TIC  personnel. Likewise the CPI office is an entity for facilitating background checks on potential employees. The CPI website makes available profiles for CPI certified practitioners in good standing. Each CPI user can determine how much or little profile information is available. Members may safely be contacted via the CPI website without revealing personal information. Only current members in good standing are posted on the website, thus allowing companies to instantly verify the quality of auditors. The CPI office also conducts more extensive background checks on request.

The past decade has seen a growth in the development of standards that can help companies ensure their products are safe and produced in humane and lawful working conditions. Instituting and enforcing a code of conduct has become a necessary step for brands that wish to fulfill their commitment to consumers and stay competitive. Moving forward it will become just as important to ensure that their compliance practitioners are of the same high ethical caliber as those standards they are meant to evaluate.