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Summer Reading List for Ethics & Compliance


Summer Reading List for Ethics & Compliance

Summer is a great time to gain knowledge, skills and experience in your field. For ethics and compliance officers, these books can help.

As an ethics and compliance professional, one of your tasks is to keep your company successful through detection, prevention and ethics. This might seem impossible at times, but reading a good book written by an expert in your field can help.

Here are ten books, each filled to the brim with advice, guidance, tips and general knowledge. Whether you're interested in risk management, career advancement or anti-money laundering programs, you'll find a book to match.

Another great addition to your list is the Conducting Ethics & Compliance Investigations with Case Management Software eBook. Download it here.


If you want a new perspective:

The Cleaner: The True Story of One of the World’s Most Successful Money Launderers, is a true crime novel offering a unique perspective into money-laundering in the 1970s and 80s.

Author Bruce Aitken recounts his past as a world-renowned money smuggler. Aitken smuggled millions through countries such as Japan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Switzerland and the Philippines.

Check out The Cleaner to learn about the near misses and quick thinking that kept Aitken out of trouble.


If you want to learn about AML:

For those who want a better understanding of AML, check out Anti-Money Laundering in a Nutshell: Awareness and Compliance for Financial Personnel and Business Managers.

The author Kevin Sullivan, director of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Training Academy and former investigator, provides a concise, practical introduction to anti-money laundering.

Learn what money laundering is, how it’s committed and by whom, detection strategies and AML prevention tips.


If your compliance program needs revamping:

Learn how to implement an effective compliance program with Susan Lee Walberg’s new book, the Insider’s Guide to Compliance: Real World Advice for Building a Successful Compliance Program.

Author Susan Lee Walberg, VP of Kohler HealthCare Consulting, explains that her book is not meant to replace a technical guidance document. Instead, Walberg puts her years of practical experience to use by offering expert tips on how to implement the fundamental elements.

A second must-read for anyone tasked with building (or rebuilding) their compliance program is Compliance Management: A How-to Guide for Executives, Lawyers and Other Compliance Professionals.

Authors Singh Nitish and Thomas J. Bussen explain step-by-step how to build and manage an effective compliance program in a world of ever-changing regulations, featuring practical tips from top compliance executives.


If you need a business ethics refresher:

Business Ethics: Best Practices for Designing and Managing Ethical Organizations (Second Edition) is a must-have for professionals looking to renew their ethical decision-making skills.

Learn how to develop a code of ethics, adopt a new decision-making strategy and manage your internal operations in an ethical way.

Promoted as a “complete learning package”, the book presents ethical dilemmas, case studies and contentious issues. And, having been written in 2019, all examples are recent and relevant.


If you're looking to advance your career:

If you haven’t read Kristy Grant-Hart’s book How to be a Wildly Effective Compliance Officer yet, there is no better time. Grant-Hart’s novel has received constant praise from industry experts since its publishing in 2015.

An internationally-recognized ethics and compliance expert, Grant-Hart is the best source for tips and tricks to excel in the industry.

Add this book to your summer reading list if you want to learn the “secrets of influence, persuasion and motivation so they can become in-demand business assets”.

Grant-Hart is also the author of the Wildly Strategic Compliance Officer Workbook, which deserves a spot in your summer reading list too.

A great companion to Grant-Hart’s first book, this guide uses a more hands-on approach with practical advice, exercises, worksheets, quizzes and examples.


If you’re looking to foster ethics in others:

Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership, by Craig E. Johnson, is a must-read for the C-suite, senior managers and anyone else in a leadership role.

The book explains how to critically assess your qualities as a leader. Johnson then leads into the character elements of a good leader, and how to build these qualities in yourself, encourage them in others and embed them in your organization.


If you’re new to HIPAA compliance:

Health providers and insurers collect more personal data now than ever before. For compliance officers in this industry, complying with HIPAA is the most important part their job.

The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance (Second Edition) makes HIPAA compliance easy.

Authored by information security experts Rebecca Herold and Kevin Beaver, this up-to-date handbook explains step by step how to achieve and maintain HIPAA compliance requirements.


If you want to learn about risk management:

Learn the common pitfalls that derail success with Richard M. Steinberg’s book, Governance, Risk Management and Compliance: It Can’t Happen to Us—Avoiding Corporate Disaster While Driving Success. 

An internationally recognized expert in the field, Steinberg explains the role of governance, risk management, crisis planning and compliance in protecting your company from “financial and reputational risk, litigation and government intervention”.