Whether it’s on the news, online, or in your own workplace, corporate internal investigations have become more frequent as society evolves. However, this leads many business owners to worry about the reputation of their company if an internal investigation is started under their roof. First and foremost, you have nothing to worry about. An effective corporate internal investigation can actually be helpful to your organization instead of harmful. Not sure what we mean? We’ll walk you through it.
What Are Corporate Internal Investigations?
In our modern world of incessant news and social media, corporate internal investigations have received more attention than ever before. Internal investigations are usually created to address a public blunder, an employee abuse complaint, a delicate staff departure, or any other types of suspicious activity or misconduct. Regardless of the situation, they can result in serious legal repercussions and sully the organization’s image.
Before an investigation commences, having a proper strategy and procedure in place is essential. In other words, you don’t want your business to hit the panic button as soon as an investigation begins. Implementing a transparent procedure not only demonstrates that your organization understands important issues, but also makes the process so much easier when providing findings, analyses, and conclusions obtained during the inquiry.
Who Is Involved?
Before your first internal investigation is required, it’s critical to think about and identify who will lead the effort. Internal investigations in corporations may be conducted by:
- The legal department
- Outside counsel
- An Internal HR team
- Corporate Internal Investigators
If your company doesn’t have adequately skilled, trained, and experienced experts on staff who are fully qualified to investigate, we recommend seeking expert assistance before doing so. The worst thing you can do is sabotage your findings by disregarding important evidentiary and investigative procedures and standards. This will render any aspect of your investigation – as well as whatever it reveals – meaningless and inadmissible.
How Are Investigations Started?
The first step in any corporate internal investigation is to figure out which events inside your business may lead to one. The following are some examples of common triggers:
- Criminal claims such as harassment, violence,
fraud and/or financial abuse - Civil claims such as discrimination or
workplace violence, accident, or injury - Inventory loss, supply chain theft, and/or
financial irregularity - Possible drug and/or alcohol abuse
in the workplace - Violations of non-compete or
other contractual agreements - Executive malfeasance
- Background Investigation Audits
Simply said, you can’t build a procedure for dealing with internal investigations until you first figure out where the triggering factors may stem from. If you haven’t considered what might prompt corporate internal investigations in your company, you’ve probably missed the chance to eliminate blind spots—at least not right away.
After you’ve identified potential triggering events, make sure your company has adequate policies, procedures, metrics, and monitoring in place to enable it to identify any concerns as quickly as possible.
What Can You Do?
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to conducting an investigation; however, the overall process should guarantee:
- A successful investigation
- Usable and admissible findings
- No further risk to the company
At the end of the investigation, a written report will be posted summarizing the process, procedures, and any information learned. In addition, depending on the situation, the final report may include recommendations for further actions and remedial measures.
This may sound easier said than done. But with the right corporate internal investigators on your side, your company will be able to not only survive an investigation but come out stronger than before. This is where South & Associates comes into play.
Corporate Internal Investigations With South & Associates
Internal investigations are unavoidable, regardless of the size. South & Associates has aided businesses, law firms, and agencies with a wide range of inquiries throughout the years. We work as a united team, utilizing all available assets in order to give our clients the highest quality service possible. Whether you need internal investigating completed, or perhaps are looking for security consulting or training your workforce, South & Associates is here to help. Get started today by reaching out to our experts.