Publication:
Integrity Compliance Programs for SMEs: Practical Guidance and Resources

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.27 MB)
166 downloads
English Text (186.63 KB)
24 downloads
Other Files
Korean PDF (1.3 MB)
227 downloads
Date
2024-03-11
ISSN
Published
2024-03-11
Editor(s)
Abstract
Small and medium-sized enterprises, or “SMEs,” play a major role in global economic development. This Guide aims to provide SMEs with a useful framework for developing effective Integrity Compliance Programs, or “ICPs,” tailored to their own business models, budgets, and risk profiles. It distills prevailing best practices and guidelines from leading national and international institutions. Many SMEs worldwide have collaborated with the World Bank Integrity Compliance Office, or “ICO,” to develop creative strategies for devising and implementing ICPs, mitigating the risk of misconduct in their operations, and even more broadly, among their business networks. This Guide describes some of these strategies. It is hoped that this Guide, which explains certain core principles, internal controls, and essential elements of ICPs, will be of real, practical value for SMEs seeking to build a culture of integrity in their businesses and communities.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Ministry of Justice, Republic of Korea; World Bank. 2024. Integrity Compliance Programs for SMEs: Practical Guidance and Resources. © Ministry of Justice, Republic of Korea. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41171 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Small Businesses in South Africa : Who Outsources Tax Compliance Work and Why?
    (2009-03-01) Coolidge, Jacqueline; Ilic, Domagoj; Kisunko, Gregory
    The authors use firm-level survey data on 998 small and medium enterprises registered for tax in South Africa regarding tax compliance costs to investigate the use of outsourcing to complete tax compliance tasks. Overall, about 43 percent of the enterprises do all their tax compliance work in-house, 11 percent outsource all their tax compliance work, and the remaining 46 percent use a combination of both ("partial outsourcing"). The data display an inverted-U shape for outsourcing of tax compliance tasks: the smallest firms (those under R 300,000 turnover or well under US$50,000) tend not to outsource, due to a combination of relatively higher cost-burden and less complexity. Relatively larger firms (those with more than R 14 million turnover or about US$2 million) report that they have sufficient in-house capacity and therefore do not need to outsource. Those in the middle are most likely to outsource at least some of their tax compliance work, mostly because tax is a specialist field and they presumably lack sufficient capacity in-house. The survey data show that the costs of tax compliance are clearly the highest for those who engage in partial outsourcing, as it appears there is likely duplication of effort. Most such firms could reduce their tax compliance costs (and probably minimize the incidence of post-filing problems) by moving from partial to full outsourcing of all tax compliance work.
  • Publication
    Kenya National Safety Net Program for Results : Integrated Fiduciary Assessment
    (Washington, DC, 2013) World Bank
    The Government of Kenya (GoK) has a number of well-established social insurance schemes and safety net programs, but their coverage has tended to be low and their effectiveness limited. The coverage of cash transfer programs has grown significantly but remains low in comparison with the size of the population in need. This assessment uses the draft guidance notes on Program-for-Results (PforR) operations prepared by the Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS) department of the World Bank. The assessment reviews the fiduciary aspects of the government's national safety net program. According to this assessment, the strengths include: (i) sector-wide planning and budgeting through the Sector Working Groups (SWGs), the Medium-term Planning (MTP) framework, and the Medium-term Expenditure Framework (MTEF); (ii) increasing computerization through the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS); (iii) current efforts to develop and roll out a single registry linked to the Management Information Systems (MISs) for the five cash transfer programs; (iv) the ongoing development and intended roll out of program MISs for the Cash transfer (CT) programs implemented by the department of gender and social development in the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Development (MGCSD); (v) the upgrading of the MIS for the CT for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) and the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP); (vi) independent external audit arrangements by the Kenya National Audit Office (KENAO); and (vii) the fact that the procurement performance of the CT programs will have little or no impact on the implementation of the program. This paper is structured as follows: chapter one gives background and the program's institutional arrangements; chapter two presents program's fiduciary performance and significant fiduciary risks; chapter three focuses on fraud and corruption; chapter four gives institutional arrangements; and chapter five presents mitigating measures.
  • Publication
    Scaling-up Regional Financial Integration in the East African Community
    (Washington, DC, 2012-01) World Bank
    This report follows up on a 2007 World Bank study, Financial Sector Integration in Two Regions of Sub-Saharan Africa: How Creating Scale in Financial Markets Can Support Growth and Development (FSITR henceforth) which identified the opportunities associated with regionalization of financial markets in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and also the many challenges associated with realizing the potential of such arrangements. This effort furthers and updates the analysis of the EAC in FSITR by focusing on two aspects of trade in financial services within the EAC:Documenting a clearer picture of financial integration in the EAC, as it is actually taking shape on the ground; and elaborating on the challenges specific to the integration of Burundi and Rwanda who joined the EAC subsequent to the preparation of FSITR. The recommendations are intended to provide inputs which will assist identification of projects to be financed under the proposed EAC Regional Financial Markets Integration Project.
  • Publication
    Bank Involvement with SMEs : Beyond Relationship Lending
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-06) Martínez Pería, María Soledad; de la Torre, Augusto; Schmukler, Sergio L.
    The "conventional wisdom" in academic and policy circles argues that, while large and foreign banks are generally not interested in serving SMEs, small and niche banks have an advantage in doing so because they can overcome SME opaqueness through relationship lending. This paper shows that there is a gap between this view and what banks actually do. Banks perceive SMEs as a core and strategic business and seem well positioned to expand their links with SMEs. The recent intensification of bank involvement with SMEs in various emerging markets documented in this paper is neither led by small or niche banks nor highly dependent on relationship lending. Rather, all types of banks are catering to SMEs and larger, multiple-service banks have in fact a comparative advantage in offering a wide range of products and services on a large scale, through the use of new technologies, business models, and risk management systems.
  • Publication
    Integrating Local SMEs in the Tourism Industry in Cabo Verde, Sao Tome and the Gambia
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-21) World Bank
    This report aims to contribute to fill those gaps, analyzing the tourism chain and SMEs access to finance the three African countries where tourism is a major economic sector: Cabo Verde, Sao Tome and the Gambia.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Decentralized Identifier (DID)
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-06) World Bank
    An identification card that proves a person’s identity is essential in modern society. It allows individuals to access various online and in-person public services by verifying their identity. Through an identity (ID) card, government services such as civil complaints, taxation, health care, insurance, and pension can be smoothly provided. In some cases, the ID card may contain additional information, such as home address or eligibility for certain services, which can be used to verify your identity and eligibility for certain benefits. ID cards are crucial for accessing public - and private - services where the individuals need to verify the information. However, most IDs are issued and controlled by external authorities and information is shared and revoked upon the request. A decentralized identifier (DID) is a new type of globally unique persistent identifier that does not require centralized registration authorities. Repeatedly generated and registered cryptographically, DIDs enable a new model of decentralized digital identity, which is referred as self-sovereign identity or decentralized identity. This sometimes allows users to verify information rapidly without having to contact multiple issuing parties. This 4th issue in the Emerging Technology series briefly describes the DID and its potential for solving development challenges, alongside key highlights of Korea’s experience and lessons learned in regard to the exploration and adoption of emerging technologies.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2017
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-01-30) World Bank Group
    Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? This book addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.
  • Publication
    Too Global to Fail : The World Bank at the Intersection of National and Global Public Policy in 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015) Evans, J. Warren; Davies, Robin; Evans, J. Warren; Davies, Robin
    This report is about global public goods (GPGs), particularly those related to the environment, in the context of the global development process. This concerns the long-term sustainability of development, as the distinction between developing and developed countries is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This report contends that global sustainability depends (indeed, consists of) the provision of certain GPGs, and that the prevailing approach to development assistance does not sufficiently recognize this fact. A key question is whether the country-ownership model is even compatible with global sustainability. A second key question is whether the political will exists to make the provision of GPGs an explicit and central objective of official development assistance, especially in the face of objections from those who believe aid should be solely concerned with the eradication of poverty through national or community-level interventions. A third key question concerns the mobilization and use of resources for the World Bank's work to support the provision of GPGs. The Bank is a major player on many regional and global issues, but its work at these levels is usually enabled by donor contributions, most often in the form of grants, targeted for a particular purpose. International development assistance needs to undergo a major transition, such that it takes as an explicit and principal objective the provision of GPGs important for development. The World Bank can play a leadership role in this transition, working within new kinds of coalitions but not abandoning the fundamentals of its operating model. Some of the most important GPGs are provided through the separate and cumulative actions of multiple countries, so the challenge for the Bank is to find ways of investing strategically and sharing knowledge across countries, while keeping faith with their national development strategies, so as to achieve maximum global impacts. The World Bank can also play a unique role in stimulating the private provision of GPGs through risk-sharing and market creation.
  • Publication
    World Bank Annual Report 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-25) World Bank
    This annual report, which covers the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)—collectively known as the World Bank—in accordance with the respective bylaws of the two institutions. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, has submitted this report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.
  • Publication
    Global Economic Prospects, January 2025
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16) World Bank
    Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.