Compliance programs vs. compliance

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There is tremendous confusion with regard to what a compliance program is. The word compliance has a definition in society that is nothing like the definition of a compliance program. Compliance is often defined in dictionaries as, “The action or fact of complying with a wish or command.” Ethicists are adding their own spin by implying that compliance means the use of rules to get people to behave ethically. They think that is impossible. I agree; however, ethicists are using the word compliance and the words compliance program synonymously to disparage compliance programs. Ethicists are writing articles with titles such as “Go beyond compliance to ethics” and “Compliance is not ethics.” In these articles, they are directly and indirectly impugning compliance programs.

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