Legal and compliance department investment in governance, risk, and compliance tools will increase 50% by 2026, according to Gartner. It says assurance leaders are seeking out technology solutions to help them address increasing regulatory attention on executive risk oversight and monitoring.

Lauren Kornutick, director analyst in Gartner’s legal risk & compliance practice, said: “Recent actions ranging from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to the US Department of Justice signal a focus on executive risk oversight and monitoring. For example, the DOJ is encouraging companies to voluntarily disclose misconduct, but firms can only do so if they’ve set up effective compliance programs and risk management strategies that leverage controls to prevent and detect misconduct.”

Without effective self-discovery, companies risk being subject to criminal prosecution, and officers and directors may be subject to shareholder derivative litigation for failing to fulfil their duty of oversight. Kornutick said: “While most organisations already have existing compliance programs, legal and compliance leaders need to ensure they are empowered to capture and elevate the right information to management and the board, take the appropriate action, and maintain documentation related to these processes.”

Gartner has identified three initial areas of focus in light of recent regulatory actions. It says firms should leverage risk management methodologies to verify control effectiveness, analyze the impact of changing expectations on board and officer oversight, and renew and raise compliance and governance standards. Kornutick added: “Compliance leaders should also conduct role-based refresher training with a focus on ensuring understanding by including gamification, scenario-based role play, and improving two-way communications in the learning process.”

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