Using a Compliance Audit Checklist to Protect Your Business

Businesses and organizations must comply with several regulations to ensure the proper functioning of their activities. Not following these rules can expose you to different types of legal problems that are better avoided. Keeping track of all these rules can be hard. That’s why we have created a compliance audit checklist to make your life easier.

Complying with labour laws

Every employer must abide by labour laws. Their goal is to guarantee workers’ fair treatment and well-being.

Payment of prevailing wage rates – This rule requires contractors and subcontractors hired for any type of public work to pay the prevailing wage rate determined by state or local rules and be aware of rate changes that may occur during the project period.

Labour law posters – Federal law requires businesses to display certain posters in a visible location. These posters should give information on employees’ rights on issues like minimum wage, overtime pay, and anti-discrimination.

Form I-9 employment eligibility verification – It’s an employer’s duty to use this form with the goal of verifying employees’ identity and their eligibility for work in the United States.

EEOC – The rules enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are aimed at protecting employees from any form of discrimination. The EEOC mandates that businesses must set up policies that prohibit discrimination in hiring and promotion processes. Moreover, they must provide equal pay and work opportunities regardless of a person’s background.

Complying with health and safety regulations

It’s an employer’s responsibility to look after the health and safety of its employers. Some regulations deal with this topic directly.

OSHA standards – The standards imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration require businesses to provide a safe work environment to their workforce. Employers must offer proper training, protective gear, and information on safety hazards.

FMLA – Based on the Family Medical Leave Act, organizations must provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for specific medical reasons, such as the serious illness of immediate family members and childbirth.

Complying with physical security regulations

Employers must enforce physical security measures to protect their employees from damage. Some of these measures are mandatory, such as fire safety regulations, putting in place procedures to respond to emergencies, and the use of video security systems in certain industries, like banks, restaurants, retail stores, and other businesses that serve the public need.

Complying with data security requirements

Another set of requirements businesses must abide by has to do with data security. Let’s dig into the most important ones.

DLP – This requirement is known as data loss prevention and requires businesses to set up policies that prevent unauthorized transfer or sharing of confidential data.

FIPS compliance – FIPS security (FIPS) stands for Federal Information Processing Standard. It refers to a set of regulations aimed at ensuring that sensitive data are stored and transmitted safely.

IRP – Businesses must have an incident response plan in place. This plan outlines how the organization will respond in case of a security system breach.

Complying with corporate governance rules

Lastly, businesses must comply with various governance rules aimed at ensuring they operate legally and ethically. Let’s review the most important ones:

Businesses must hold their meetings as required by law or bylaws.Pecuniary transactions and relationships with non-executive directors must be disclosed in the annual report.Businesses should develop an effective investor relations program in order to promote transparency and effective communications with shareholders.Businesses should evaluate internal control systems for adequacy in their annual report.The board of directors should review the risk management framework on a regular basis and take corrective action as needed.