FCPA

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has two main parts. The anti-bribery provisions make it an offence for US companies, US citizens, listed issuers and certain others to offer or give anything of value to a foreign official to obtain or retain business. The accounting provisions require companies with US-listed securities to record transactions accurately and keep internal controls able to prevent and detect improper payments. Because those accounting rules apply even when no bribe is proved, many cases are settled on books-and-records grounds alone. Enforcement sits with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Act reaches acts by agents and subsidiaries, and some conduct abroad, so a foreign company can be caught. Many later foreign-bribery laws copied its approach. Global groups often treat it as the minimum standard and build one programme to meet it everywhere.

A listed manufacturer uses a local consultant to win a public tender abroad. The consultant is paid a fee far above market rate, and part of it reaches a procurement officer. The invoices describe the work as market research. Investigators treat the false description as an accounting breach and the payment to the officer as bribery, and the company can face both charges.