ACi’s Steve Young, Mary Eastwood Jones and Manu Hanspal had an exceptional reception at #RelativityFest in London this May, as they revealed the Association’s new Investigations Principles and Guidelines and Investigations Typology (available in the ACi Members’ Area).
Category: News
ACi is delighted to announce the launch of its new Investigations Principles and Good Practice Guidelines guidance. This is the first wide-reaching practitioner-led Principles and good practice guidance developed for the global corporate investigations profession. These foundational Principles and Guidelines are the culmination of working group discussions with a highly diverse group of corporate investigation subject matter experts, both in-house and external, from various industries and sectors. They are intended to help guide the work of corporate investigators.
The ACi would like to thank all those who contributed subject matter expertise in our working groups, and our group leads Mary Eastwood Jones, Jeff Giddings, Patrick Wellens and content creator Esther-Gail Fraser. The following are some quotes from our members about the importance of our Investigation Principles.
Jeff Giddings, Senior Investigator at OSCE said, “Core principles and guidelines are foundations for a successful corporate investigative function. The ACi Principles and Good Practice Guidelines are fusions taken across the wide spectrum of ACi members. Given the multitude of industries represented in the ACi, it was a challenge in getting consensus for having succinct, yet inclusive, principles and guidelines. To my knowledge, this has never been accomplished until now, which demonstrates the strength and commitment of the ACi and its members. This is truly trailblazing.”
Patrick Wellens, Investigations Expert said,”The creation of the new Principles and Good Practice Guidelines fits perfectly in the mission of the ACi to professionalize Corporate Investigations. It is a major achievement to now have a common set of Standards and Good Practice Guidelines that can be applied across Corporate Investigators in any industry. I am personally very proud to have actively contributed to these documents.”
Ash Sharma, Group Investigations Manager, Anglo American, said, “Corporate Investigation is a unique profession. The Corporate Investigator might be asked to investigate financial crime, physical or psychological safety, health or environmental breaches, data and cybercrime amongst others. Corporation Boards, employees, investors, customers and the wider community expect the highest standards from these investigators. The ACi will ensure these expectations are met by educating, supporting and mentoring their members. The release of the ACi Principles and Good Practice Guidelines is an exciting achievement for the profession. I am proud to be part of this community and support the evolution of the profession.”
Steve Young, CEO, ACi, said, “Investigators are bound by the moral imperative to find the true facts. For me, the ACi principles underpin this obligation, which we all carry as members of the corporate investigations community. “
Mary Eastwood Jones, ED, ACi added, ‘The work we do carries great responsibility to establish the facts ethically- the consequences of a poorly or unfairly executed investigation can be devastating for the people and organisations involved. I am proud to be part of this first practitioner-led foundational project and am so grateful to all in our community who have collaborated and reached consensus to make this possible. The Investigation Principles are integral to conducting robust and ethical investigations, and are essential on our journey to professionalising corporate investigations.’
Luke Cocks as Data Analyst
ACi is delighted to announce the appointment of Luke Cocks as Data Analyst.
Luke is a recent Mathematics graduate from the University of Lancaster. Luke’s work will be instrumental in helping the ACi develop products and services which resonate with our members. He will be working closely with the marketing team to devise targeted campaigns and will help ensure ACi works in accordance with GDPR rules
Please join us in welcoming Luke to Team ACi!
Jacob Atkinson as Research Assistant
ACi is delighted to announce the appointment of Jacob Atkinson as Research Assistant.
Jacob holds a degree in History and a postgraduate degree in Heritage Studies from Newcastle University. Jacob is assisting with research on certification pathways for corporate investigators, as well as horizon scanning for developments of interest to our community. Jacob also assists with research and editorial work on ACi Core Projects including the production of the Investigator Handbook.
Please join us in welcoming Jacob to Team ACi!
This year, in support of the International Women’s Day 2022 campaign #breakthebias, ACi is collecting quotes, anecdotes and thoughts from our corporate investigation community on working with, hiring, promoting or supporting women in corporate investigations, or your experiences as a woman working in corporate investigations and how we can all break the gender bias. You can read all about the campaign here.
Please share your views with us – just click the button below to send us your quote.
Women’s Day Webinar
You can also register for our #Breakthebias Women’s Day event. It takes place on Wednesday 8th March 2022 from 12.00 pm – 1.30 pm. Click here to see details of our women panellists and register for your free place.
ACi members can read Chapter 21 of GIR’s ‘The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations (sixth edition). The chapter, written by ACi’s CEO Steve Young focuses on Whistleblowers: The In-house Perspective. The document is available in our members’ area. To purchase the full guide, visit:
https://globalinvestigationsreview.com/guide/the-practitioners-guide-global-investigations/2022
The ACi is excited to announce the appointment of Alex Gaft as ACi Advisory Panel Member. As a seasoned corporate investigations professional, Alex will provide the ACi with advice on corporate investigations management, cyber fraud, networking, and will contribute to the ACi’s key projects (including training, investigation standards, and knowledge bank).
Alex has over 20 years of professional investigation experience at both national and international levels, within the public and private sectors. Alex started his career in 2001 as an investigator with the Israeli National Police. From 2010 to 2012, Alex worked as a Regional Head of Forensic Audit for ArcelorMittal, covering CIS and based in Ukraine. In 2012 Alex joined ENRC in London as Group Head of Investigations and between 2014 and 2018 led Corporate investigations team, covering 7 countries in CIS, for Veon, based in Amsterdam. In 2018 Alex returned to Israel and worked in Cyber Security and Cyber Fraud prevention. Since January 2020 Alex is heading Forensic Services team for BDO. He holds an MBA and is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Information systems Auditor (CISA), and is Certified in Financial Crime Prevention.
Speaking of the appointment, ACi’s Executive Director, Mary Eastwood Jones, said:
‘Alex has been a very proactive ACi supporter for some time- in fact, he introduced me to the ACi community. Alex is a highly skilled and talented subject matter expert, networker, and horizon scanner. He really has his finger on the pulse of the key emerging issues of importance to corporate investigators, and we are excited to be working with him for the benefit of our community.’
Please join us in welcoming Alex as an official member of our Advisory Panel.
Wishing you a very happy New Year
As we launch into 2022, ACi wishes all our members and supports a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year ahead.
We are working hard to bring you more innovative training, networking and education events this year. While the Pandemic continues to disrupt the usual working practices of investigators, our community is continuing to adapt and evolve, learn new skills and tackle investigations challenges in new ways.
ACi is here to support its members and we appreciate the commitment of our members and our sponsors to help grow our community and to improve investigations standards. Watch this space for news of our upcoming events – to be announced very soon!
The ACi is working on a number of trailblazing projects to champion the role of corporate investigators. These are all reliant on our members’ insights, ideas, and subject matter expertise.
We recognise the demands of your ‘day’ jobs, but we greatly appreciate any time contribution you can give us over the coming year. Where possible, we try to make the engagement as simple as possible for you through a short online survey or invitation to send us your thoughts via email so you can contribute at a time that is convenient for you. Some projects will also include an invitation to a focus or working group. Please take a look at the list of projects below and register your interest. We hope to have as much involvement as possible from around the globe. Thank you in advance.
- Corporate Investigations Typology
Project runs to 11 February 2022
How many different types of investigation do you conduct or are you involved in as a corporate investigator?
From investigations into fraud, bribery and financial malpractice, to security, to bullying, harassment, sexual abuse and exploitation, to ESG concerns, to cyber enabled fraud, the breadth of matters being investigated by corporate investigators is expanding.
Help us map out our constellation of investigation types. The Typology map will be made available as an awareness raising graphic and can be adaptable for in-house use when considering incident classifications.
Please click the button below to register your interest.
- Education Working Group
Ongoing
What does the gold standard in corporate investigation training look like to you?
Join our working groups and/or take part in our online survey in 2022 to help us enhance our Foundations in Corporate Investigations training and more advanced specialist modules as we develop a pathway to certification.
We are always looking for subject matter experts to peer review educational content, so please register your interest.
Please click the button below to register your interest.
- Core Investigation Standards and Principles
Ongoing
As the leading international authoritative voice on corporate investigations, the ACi is developing a code of ethics and a set of core standards and principles to guide corporate investigators and their functions. We recognise that many of our members will have developed their own in house set of principle to guide case intake, planning, interviews, evidence collection, analysis and reporting. We aim to draw on collective expertise and our extensive research in this area.
Please click the button below to register your interest.
Merry Christmas
On behalf of the ACi Executive Committee and all the staff we would like to wish our members celebrating a merry Christmas and a prosperous and healthy New Year. We will be bringing you more webinars, training and networking events in the very near future!
We rely on our members’ input, ideas and perspectives so please get involved in one of our many projects, from education and certification pathway, investigation typology, to practitioner series. Please look out for our ‘Pick a Project’ initiative.