5 Best Practice Processes to Prevent Bribery & Corruption in Your Organisation

When it comes to protecting your business from bribery and corruption, it’s essential to have strong processes in place to detect potential cases and provide guidance to staff.

Actively preventing bribery & corruption requires firms to establish clear policies that are widely communicated – to ensure staff know what constitutes bribery. It also requires adequate training as part of a bribery awareness programme. Firms must also have a clearly defined route for staff to report potential misconduct or wrongdoing discreetly – ensuring cases can be investigated.

Firms should also consider strict policies & procedures regarding the giving and receiving of corporate gifts, implementing due diligence on third parties to ensure the organisation isn’t considering working with any sanctioned entities, and introducing procedures for uncovering conflicts of interest.

Implementing proactive measures to prevent bribery & corruption is essential to safeguard your company’s reputation, maintain trust with stakeholders, and foster a culture of integrity.

In this blog we share five practical processes you can implement to proactively prevent bribery and corruption within your organisation, and we explain how these processes can be digitised and automated using Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) software.

Check out these 5 procedures that will actively prevent bribery & corruption:

1. Whistleblowing Procedures

To prevent bribery & corruption, firms should implement a whistle blowing procedure where staff can report suspected cases of bribery or corruption anonymously. This will encourage staff to feel confident to speak up and share potential misconduct without fear of retaliation. A process like this will prove to regulators that the organisation is actively encouraging staff to report suspected bribery & corruption and can provide proof of compliance with anti-bribery & corruption laws and regulations.

To implement an effective process, firms must ensure that reports can be made anonymously and keep information confidential to encourage people to come forward. The process should offer multiple reporting options, such as email or an online portal. There should also be adequate training to ensure everyone in the organisation knows how to use the whistleblowing system. There should also be clear escalation routes and a case management process to sure each potential case is investigated and resolved promptly.

How GRC Software Can Help: GRC software enables firms to implement an online discreet whistleblowing portal to centralise and automate processes. Staff can report potential bribery or misconduct anonymously via online forms. Forms can be customised to ensure the relevant data is captured. Automated workflows are used to alert the relevant stakeholders when a new report is filed and to manage the case step-by-step through the escalation, investigation, and resolution process.

2. Gifts & Hospitality Procedures

The giving and receiving of corporate gifts and hospitality could potentially be an attempted bribe. Therefore, it is important for firms to have strict policies and procedures regarding gifts & hospitality. Firms should create a process for staff to log the giving and receiving of gifts – capturing critical details around what was offered, the reason, the value, when it was given, and who the recipient was. Firms should establish thresholds for when gifts or hospitality need prior approval. Clear thresholds and rules that define acceptable practices should also be communicated to ensure staff are following internal policies. Staff should also be given regular training to ensure that all employees understand the gifts & hospitality procedure and its importance in preventing bribery.

How GRC Software Can Help: With GRC software, you can set up an automated process for gifts and hospitality. Staff simply log the potential giving and receiving of gifts via online forms that feed directly into the platform. Threshold rules are defined so low value gifts are automatically approved, and higher value gifts that require approval are escalated so they can be agreed or declined.  As requests are submitted and tracked in one place, this creates a transparent, real-time record, allowing compliance teams to monitor for unusual patterns or potential bribery risks.

3. Conflicts of Interest Procedures

Detecting conflicts of interest is another proactive way to prevent potential cases of bribery & corruption. Identifying situations where personal interests might conflict with the interests of the organisation is essential. Firms should implement clear procedures for declaring and escalating potential conflicts of interest and provide adequate training and guidance on what constitutes a conflict of interest. They should keep a record of sanctioned companies and affiliations to ensure there is no overlap.

How GRC Software Can Help:  GRC technology offers a structured approach for organisations to capture and report conflicts of interest. Staff members create profiles with personal and professional details, including financial interests and affiliations, stored securely on record. Users submit potential conflicts via customisable online forms, and automated workflows escalate these to the appropriate personnel. A step-by-step resolution process then tracks each action for transparency. Organisations can run reports on policy compliance, conflict types, risk trends, and mitigation effectiveness—supporting ethical standards, transparency, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder trust.

4. Third Party Due Diligence

Third parties, suppliers, and contractors can pose a risk of bribery and corruption if they don’t follow similar ethical standards to your own organisation. Conducting due diligence before entering into contracts helps to ensure that your partners share your company’s commitment to integrity.

How GRC Software Can Help: GRC software can streamline third-party risk management by automating due diligence processes. Staff can create an online log of existing and potential vendors and automate due diligence checks. Firms can establish an online vendor portal to send out risk-based questionnaires for potential partners. Integrations with third party risk intelligence providers can be used to detect any previous cases of bribery or unethical conduct by your potential partners. This software also allows you to track ongoing relationships, ensuring third-party compliance with your anti-bribery standards over time.

5. Anti-Bribery Policies and Attestations

To actively prevent bribery and corruption, firms must have strict policies in place for codes of conduct, conflicts of interest and anti-bribery. Keeping these policies up-to-date and ensuring staff are aware and have agreed to the policy requirements should be a top priority for compliance officers.

How GRC Software Can Help: Firms can use GRC software to build an online policy library and implement effective policy management. All policies are uploaded centrally, and workflows are used to fully manage any amendments, approvals, and signoffs – to ensure policies are always current. Policies can be mapped to your regulatory change management process – so when a regulation changes the policy can be updated accordingly.

GRC software also enables online policy attestations. Workflows and automated emails are used to distribute the policy, and employees can attest to it online – keeping a record of their consent. Online policy attestations can be used as evidence in employee tribunals. Reporting tools allow you to assess the effectiveness of policies. These policy management software capabilities make it easy to maintain a well-informed workforce and reduce the risk of bribery & corruption.

Final Thoughts

Preventing bribery and corruption takes more than policies; it requires the right tools and systems to support effective communication and implement proactive procedures to detect and prevent potential bribery & corruption. GRC software simplifies this by centralising and automating essential anti-bribery processes, making it easier for organisations to stay vigilant and compliant. With the right approach and technology in place, you can build a resilient organisation that values integrity and transparency.

Having efficient anti-bribery & corruption measures will protect your company’s reputation and build trust with stakeholders and customers – ensuring long-term sustainability.

To find out more about how the Camms platform can help your business implement proactive measures to prevent bribery & corruption, request a demo of our compliance capabilities.