Corporate Compliance can also be defined as:

The state of being in accordance with the relevant Federal or regional authorities and their requirements.

Corporate scandals and breakdowns such as the Enron case in 2001 have highlighted the need for stronger compliance regulations for publicly listed companies.

The most significant regulation in this context is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act developed by two U.S. congressmen, Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley in 2002 which defined significant tighter personal responsibility of corporate top management for the accurateness of reported financial statements.

It used to be that only the largest multi-nationals needed a Compliance Officer. Today most practices, regardless of size, would be wise to charge someone within their organization with the responsibility of keeping abreast and managing the regulatory compliance process.

HIPPA