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What does a chief compliance officer do?

Updated January 8, 2025
5 min read
What does a chief compliance officer do

A CCO or Chief Compliance Officer's primary responsibility is to ensure all procedures or activities are compliant with the company's overall policy and adhering to legal protocols with state and federal laws. Thus, the CCO drafts, proposes and develops compliance programs for the company to implement. Through the chief compliance officer's work, the company can lessen its liabilities and issues that may cause disruptions in production. The CCO is also part of the team that ensures quality in all company processes and activities.

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Chief compliance officer responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real chief compliance officer resumes:

  • Achieve desired results of no material audits or investigations thereafter by CMS or OIG.
  • Respond to all regulatory inquiries and manage FINRA routine and trading examinations.
  • Manage successful litigation, arbitration and mediation proceedings, including commercial disputes, product liability, employment and intellectual property.
  • Work closely with industry-leading securities attorneys in matters of pending litigation, consumer complaints, and regulatory investigations.
  • Develop, maintain and enforce policies and procedures relate to anti-money laundering, ethics training, and business continuity.
  • Draft complete sets of HIPAA privacy and security policies and regularly advise clients on state and federal privacy issues.
  • Implement new cloud-base (software as a service) legal matter, document management, and HIPAA and HITECH compliance systems.
  • Develop and conduct continuing education and AML training.
  • Conduct AML surveillance and risk assessment to identify and mitigate suspicious activity.
  • Lead implementation of program structure require to ensure compliance with federal Medicare requirements.
  • Communicate with FINRA and other regulators frequently on a wide variety of registration and compliance-relate issues.
  • Perform complex data analysis on dozens of hospital and foundation audit reports relating to Medicare reimbursement.
  • Develop the compliance monitoring program including forensic testing of business practices and daily oversight of portfolio activities.
  • Direct development and refinement of complex compliance and ethics programs that ensure entire organization meets both federal and state requirements.
  • Provide compliance expertise, specializing in private equity, inter-dealer brokerage, proprietary trading, private placements and municipal securities.

Chief compliance officer skills and personality traits

We calculated that 8% of Chief Compliance Officers are proficient in Oversight, Compliance Issues, and Risk Management.

We break down the percentage of Chief Compliance Officers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Oversight, 8%

    Coordinated critical analysis, management, strategic planning, oversight and successful adherence to all directives of a Corporate Integrity Agreement.

  • Compliance Issues, 6%

    Assisted management with strategic business planning on regulatory and compliance issues and provided management with updates of prescient regulatory developments.

  • Risk Management, 6%

    Managed multiple product and firm initiatives, including technology enhancements, risk management analyses, website development, and marketing materials.

  • Ethics, 6%

    Developed, maintained and enforced policies and procedures related to anti-money laundering, ethics training, and business continuity.

  • Regulatory Compliance, 5%

    Developed audit schedule and time budgets, assisted with external auditors and regulatory authorities, coordinated investigations and ensured regulatory compliance.

  • Risk Assessments, 5%

    Perform compliance reviews and risk assessments, identify potential areas of compliance vulnerability.

"oversight," "compliance issues," and "risk management" are among the most common skills that chief compliance officers use at work. You can find even more chief compliance officer responsibilities below, including:

See the full list of chief compliance officer skills

Choose from 10+ customizable chief compliance officer resume templates

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Chief Compliance Officer Resume
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Chief Compliance Officer Resume
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Chief Compliance Officer Resume

Compare different chief compliance officers

Chief compliance officer vs. Regulatory affairs specialist

A regulatory affairs specialist assists in securing and maintaining government approval for nutritional products, drugs, medical devices, and related supplies. They are often employed by medical, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology companies. They may also work in the government or law. Typically, they work on document preparation, file maintenance, information management, and coordination of tasks across various departments. They expanded their duties and responsibilities as a result of company acquisitions and restructuring, worldwide globalization of markets, and constantly evolving regulations.

We looked at the average chief compliance officer salary and compared it with the wages of a regulatory affairs specialist. Generally speaking, regulatory affairs specialists are paid $32,106 lower than chief compliance officers per year.Even though chief compliance officers and regulatory affairs specialists are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require compliance issues, regulatory compliance, and internal audit in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a chief compliance officer are more likely to require skills like "oversight," "risk management," "ethics," and "risk assessments." On the other hand, a job as a regulatory affairs specialist requires skills like "regulatory affairs," "fda," "medical devices," and "regulatory submissions." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

The education levels that regulatory affairs specialists earn slightly differ from chief compliance officers. In particular, regulatory affairs specialists are 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a chief compliance officer. Additionally, they're 14.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Chief compliance officer vs. License inspector

A regulatory compliance specialist job is to ensure that organizations conform to industry standards, specifications, regulations, and laws. They review operating practices, make and enforce compliance plans, and perform regulatory possible risk management. They may be employed as consultants or hired by an organization. They will review documentation, coordinating regulatory compliance procedures across organizations, collaborating with stakeholders, internal and external, on issues related to compliance, and performing audits. In addition, this job requires extensive experience in regulatory compliance and profound industry knowledge.

A career as a license inspector brings a lower average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a chief compliance officer. In fact, license inspectors salary is $50,739 lower than the salary of chief compliance officers per year.

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, chief compliance officer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "oversight," "compliance issues," "risk management," and "ethics." Meanwhile, a license inspector has duties that require skills in areas such as "inspection reports," "technical assistance," "provide technical assistance," and "administrative hearings." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

In general, license inspectors achieve lower levels of education than chief compliance officers. They're 5.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 14.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Chief compliance officer vs. Regulatory compliance specialist

On average, regulatory compliance specialists earn lower salaries than chief compliance officers, with a $39,093 difference per year.Using the responsibilities included on chief compliance officers and regulatory compliance specialists resumes, we found that both professions have similar skill requirements, such as "compliance issues," "regulatory compliance," and "risk assessments.rdquo;

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from chief compliance officer resumes include skills like "oversight," "risk management," "ethics," and "compliance policies," whereas a regulatory compliance specialist is more likely to list skills in "government regulations," "regulatory submissions," "iso," and "external audits. "

Regulatory compliance specialists make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $73,252. On the other hand, chief compliance officers are paid the highest salary in the finance industry, with average annual pay of $101,708.Most regulatory compliance specialists achieve a similar degree level compared to chief compliance officers. For example, they're 2.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 13.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Chief compliance officer vs. Registration officer

Registration officers tend to earn a lower pay than chief compliance officers by an average of $70,595 per year.

Even though a few skill sets overlap between chief compliance officers and registration officers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a chief compliance officer might have more use for skills like "oversight," "compliance issues," "risk management," and "ethics." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of registration officers require skills like "patients," "customer service," "emergency room," and "patient data. "

In general, registration officers hold lower degree levels compared to chief compliance officers. Registration officers are 8.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 19.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of chief compliance officer

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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