The March NACD-NJ Chapter meeting focused on collaborative strategic partnering between board members and institutional investors.  Companies should also think strategically about compliance.  A grudging "Let's just comply" attitude is foolhardy given today's increased regulatory and shareholder scrutiny.  Instead, strategic compliance is an initiative that should be integrated into the governance, risk and compliance decision-making of every audit committee and C-suite executive.   

But how does a board move from being reactive to being strategic in their compliance effort?  It does so by ensuring there is optimized coordination among the audit committee, internal and external audit, general counsel, the compliance officer, SOX advisors, internal control process champions, IT quality assurance personnel, and others.  It's more than meeting the reporting requirements by a particular deadline; it's a team approach that views the compliance effort as a value-added, integrated, internalized process.  Strategic compliance refocuses compliance from a high-cost activity to a true company asset.