Whistle Blower
Whistle-blowing, as it relates to Fraud, is the act of reporting Fraud, wastes, and abuse. Reporting any act of wrong doing is considered whistle-blowing, regardless, if it is reported by a public or private employee or to persons inside or outside of the victim’s organisation.
Institute of Company Secretaries of India has published a detailed publication on the subject of Whistle Blowing Balancing a tight rope and we produce (hereunder) most relevant excerpts from this publication on the concepts of Whistle-blower.
a) Whistle BlowerTypes of whistle-blowers
b) Implementation best practices
c) Provisions of Companies Act, 2013
5 Best Practices to make your whistle blower program a success:-
- Commit Financial rewards to whistle-blowers
- Always implement anonymous reporting
- Make all types of individuals eligible to receive financial rewards such as Insider (Auditors, Internal Auditors, Compliance Personnel, etc)
- Reject Gag Clauses
- Protection for whistle-blowers
See how the SEC whistle-blower program works hereunder
5 Benefits of whistle-blowing (how whistle-blowing helps companies by ICAEW, Corporate Governance: Connect and Reflect)
- Reveals inconvenient truths
- Promotes structured learning
- Empowers people
- Provides unique insights
- Signals excellence