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EY Virtual Compliance Officer is a whistleblowing tool created by EY. It is fully compliant with the requirements of the EU Whistleblowing Directive and meets the requirements of the GDPR. EY Virtual Compliance Officer provides safe channel for whistleblowers to report fraud or misconduct, streamlines case management for organizations and - if needed - offers the support of EY professionals in internal investigations.
EY Virtual Compliance Officer was developed by EY Forensics professionals who have extensive, hands-on experience in managing misconduct complaints and in interacting with whistleblowers. Our practical experience from more than 800 engagements over the last 15 years was combined with the knowledge of leading IT professional to make EY Virtual Compliance Officer a simple and secure solution that lets you react properly to reports of potential misconduct.
EY Virtual Compliance Officer allows the company both to create a reporting channel for whistleblowers and to satisfy other requirements outlined in the EU Whistleblowing Directive, including sending acknowledgement of receipt of the report to the reporting person, ensuring their anonymity and deleting (anonymizing) any redundant personal data. As a service provider, EY ensures that EY Virtual Compliance Officer will be updated to accommodate for new legislations and it can be further developed based on client feedback.
The electronic data is kept within the territory of the European Union (hosted on the EY Client Technology platform based on Microsoft Azure cloud solution).
As proven by comprehensive penetration tests and ISO 27001 certified infrastructure, the EY Virtual Compliance Officer maintains leading-edge information security management standards.
EY Virtual Compliance Officer supports Compliance Officers in their daily work, assisting in management of misconduct reports according to legal requirements. Automated reminders will ensure you will not miss an important deadline and the records of the undertaken actions (the audit trail) will document your company’s due process. The system will reduce the amount of manual work thanks to automated processes and will allow you to grant access to other employees, separately for each misconduct report.
EY Virtual Compliance Officer is a mobile-friendly, cloud-based solution, which allows for reporting from any location or device, whilst ensuring the whistleblower stays anonymous. Accessible misconduct report forms can be filed by company employees and individuals from outside the organization alike. Anonymous chat will allow you to talk to the whistleblower and exchange attachments.
EY Virtual Compliance Officer can be tailored to your organization, among others by adding graphic elements and logotypes, as well as by modifying the misconduct report form.
Subscription to the EY Virtual Compliance Officer comes with a package of hours for advisory support (for example for conducting interviews, undertaking forensic data analysis or e-Discovery services) from an experienced team of EY forensics and compliance professionals.
EY Virtual Compliance Officer can include an additional module which grants users easy access to your organization’s internal documents, such as policies, regulations and guidelines. Thanks to the in-built monitoring functionality, a Compliance Officer can manage these documents and request employees to confirm they have read them. This module is equipped with automated reminders, statistics, history of records and a chat.
EY Virtual Compliance Officer
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Whistleblowing automation IT tool for misconduct reporting
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Anonymous reporting and a confidential channel for communication with the whistleblower
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Advanced features for case management / administration of misconduct reports
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Professional support in implementing procedures tailored to a client’s specific needs
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Support in the assessment of misconduct reports and recommendations on follow-up actions
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Support during internal investigations
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Smart document repository for employees
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Low maintenance cost
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The requirements laid forth in the Directive will be binding for:
legal entities in the private sector with 250 or more workers
all legal entities from the financial services sector, regardless of the number of workers
legal entities in the public sector
The deadline for bringing into force laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive passes on 17 December 2021.
The EY Whistleblowing Directive will be binding for legal entities in the private sector with between 50 and 249 employees starting December 17, 2023.
The Directive lays down common minimum standards to protect whistleblowers and introduces penalties which are to be specified by the EU member states. The minimum standards include:
establishing confidential internal reporting channels for whistleblowers and providing easily accessible information on these channels to employees and business partners
designation of a person responsible for following-up on the misconduct reports
undertaking diligent follow-up actions (including internal inquiries and investigations)
acknowledgment of receipt of the report to the whistleblower (within 7 days) and providing feedback about the action envisaged or taken as follow-up (within 3 months)
providing employees and business partners with information on internal and external misconduct reporting channels.
Yes. EY Virtual Compliance Officer was specifically designed to help organizations satisfy the requirements of the EU Whistleblowing Directive and its transposition to local legislation in a simple and accessible way.
Depending on the industry your company operates in, the Directive might apply even to companies employing less than 50 workers. This concerns the financial sector in particular; however, each EU Member State can decide to extend the personal scope of its local legislation to include other legal entities, based on their business activities and associated risks, and especially environmental and public health risks.
Implementation of whistleblowing channel is worth considering regardless of the EU Whistleblowing Directive. Having one significantly increases your chances to detect misconduct and limit potential losses resulting thereof.
Having a whistleblowing channel can help your organization gain competitive advantage. It is often expected or required by certain business partners.
Yes. EY Virtual Compliance Officer allows for direct communication through a confidential whistleblowing channel which is available 24/7 for employees and individuals from outside the organization. Whistleblowers who want to remain anonymous receive a unique token code allowing for further communication. This allows the organization to communicate with anonymous whistleblower, ask questions, get additional information about the reported misconduct, send or receive documents and satisfy the EU Whistleblowing Directive requirements to give feedback to the reporting person.
This is one of the main requirements of the EU Whistleblowing Directive. Moreover, having such a channel increases a whistleblower’s trust in the company, making it more likely they will choose to report a misconduct through company’s internal channel and not opt for external reporting to authorities or a public disclosure (to which they are entitled to, based on the Directive). This will allow the organization to react faster to the reported misconduct and limit potential financial and reputational repercussions.
Yes. EY Forensics and Integrity Services provides a wide range of services including compliance risk assessment, the implementation of compliance management systems, analysis of reported misconducts and comprehensive support during internal investigations (including process analysis, interviews, forensics data analysis, IT forensics – e-Discovery, open source intelligence, etc.)
Yes. It is possible as EY Virtual Compliance Officer is composed of independent modules. Implementing the smart document repository allows your organization to share documents (such as internal regulations and guidelines) and manage the collection of affirmations, confirming that employees and business partners are acquainted with these documents.
EY’s Forensics and Integrity Services team has a vast experience in auditing compliance management systems. Depending on your needs, we can help you with risk identification and assessment, updating your procedures, assisting in training and preparing related communications.
The amount of time required to implement the EY Virtual Compliance Officer depends on the number of modifications requested by your organization, the number of users and other company-specific factors. Typical implementation takes 5-10 working days. Implementation is free of charge and there are no other costs besides the EY Virtual Compliance Officer subscription.
Yes. EY Virtual Compliance Officer can be customized to the needs of your organization, both in terms of misconduct reporting processes, and in terms of graphics and other visual elements. For example, you can modify the contents of the misconduct reporting form so that it will better suit your key risks and company’s structure. You will be also able to change graphics and logos on the landing page.
The cost of EY Virtual Compliance Officer depends on the number of requested modifications, the number of active language versions (from the 13 languages versions currently available), the number of separate whistleblowing channels (in case of capital groups) and other individual arrangements.
The full price is prepared specifically for each client. It is always preceded with a demonstration meeting.
In such cases, EY Forensics and Integrity Services can help with initial assessment of the misconduct report, deciding on further actions as well as provide comprehensive support during internal investigations (including process analysis, interviews, forensics data analysis, IT forensics – e-Discovery, etc.).
By choosing EY Virtual Compliance Officer, you not only get an effective whistleblowing platform created by EY professionals based on global quality and security standards, but you also gain access to the knowledge and support of the biggest and most experienced forensics and compliance team in Europe. EY Forensics has unique competencies and experience in compliance and internal audit engagements across the whole region.
EU Whistleblowing Directive – full EY support
See how comprehensive EY solutions can help you become compliant with the requirements of EU Whistleblowing Directive and sleep easier even when you receive a misconduct report.
Our team is comprised of forensic accountants, auditors and other professional who have years of practical experience in conducting internal investigations and implementing compliance solutions, including internal regulations on fraud prevention, codes of ethics and whistleblowing infrastructure.
Thanks to our technical excelence, subject knowledge and unique competences our team can support your organizationduring every step of an internal investigation and help you to implement and strenghten your culture of compliance.
