As we mentioned in our July 25, 2011 post, prior to delving into the actual work, skills and knowledge required of a Chief Compliance Officers to an investment adviser, the very first step a CCO should take is to make sure she understands the framework and principles that guide the work they do. Not surprisingly, given the demands of their position, even experienced CCOs ignore or forget some of these clearly written admonitions about the CCO function that routinely appear in canned written compliance policies and procedures that they pass out to registered adviser personnel. As a reminder, periodically, we’ll post rules CCOs should never forget. We follow now with a third rule.
Rule Number Three: Communicate your role to your Boss(es)
To avoid the appearance that you are doing more than administering the compliance program, take the time to carefully define, in writing, your job responsibilities and take steps to ensure that person(s) who supervise you know them and understand the roles and limitations of the job. Then, periodically, take the time to remind them again and again. Were I to give a quiz to all of the managers who supervise CCOs, asking about the CCO role and what a CCO does, I venture, most of them (who have not served in that capacity or have no prior legal or compliance background) would, unfortunately, fail. Even more unfortunate, is that they and other employees believe that you are somehow, by definition, responsible for the day-to-day oversight of others. When you’re perceived as the person responsible for “signing-off” on the actions of others, you open yourself up for assuming supervisory responsibility, and thus liability, for those employees.
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