The chief compliance officer (CCO) of a

C-suite Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit or ...

is the officer primarily responsible for overseeing and managing

regulatory compliance In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. Compliance has traditionally been explained by reference to the deterrence theory, according to which punishing a behavior will decrease the viol ...

issues within an organization. The CCO typically reports to the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

or the

chief legal officer A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

. The role has long existed at companies that operate in heavily regulated industries such as

financial services Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, accountancy companies, ...

and

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pro ...

. For other companies, the rash of 2000s

accounting scandals Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "language ...

, the

Sarbanes–Oxley Act The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that mandates certain practices in financial record keeping and reporting for corporations. The act, (), also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protect ...

, and the recommendations of the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines have led to additional CCO appointments. Scott Cohen, editor and publisher of ''

Compliance Week ''Compliance Week'', published by Wilmington plc Wilmington plc is a publishing firm and provider of information and training, specialising in compliance, legal and healthcare publications. The company was established in 1995 and has its headquar ...

'', dates the proliferation of CCOs to a 2002 speech by SEC commissioner

Cynthia Glassman Dr. Cynthia Aaron Glassman of Alexandria, Virginia was a commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs. She served as acting chair from July 1, 2005 to August 3, 2005. She ...

, in which she called on companies to designate a "corporate responsibility officer."">SEC Commissioner's Speech: Sarbanes–Oxley and the Idea of "Good" Governance (Cynthia A. Glassman)
/ref> The responsibilities of the position often include leading enterprise compliance efforts, designing and implementing internal controls, policies and procedures to assure compliance with applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations and third party guidelines; managing audits and investigations into regulatory and compliance issues; and responding to requests for information from regulatory bodies.

References

Corporate governance Regulatory compliance C {{management-stub