Investigations are an unfortunate fact of life for most corporations

Corporate investigations, which can be triggered by any number of events, have become a fact of life for most companies, according to a survey from H5.

The survey focused on the nature of investigations companies face and the concerns that drive them, the tools and methods utilized in their pursuit, and the challenges associated with conducting investigations.

Among the key findings:

• A majority (67%) also indicated that their companies proactively monitor networks and electronic data for suspicious activity, although that is not the most common trigger for an investigation. The most common impetus, cited by 45% of respondents, is a private or public complaint by a consumer, employee or competitor.
• A majority of respondents (63%) expect the number of investigations to increase over the next three years.
• Nearly half (47%) said their companies face more than 50 potential investigations per year, with one in five putting the number at more than 100.
• The most prevalent type of investigations undertaken by respondents’ companies were employee/workplace investigations (43%) followed by regulatory/ governmental investigations (24%) and due diligence investigations (11%).
• 59% of respondents included analytics technology as one of their top three areas of spend.
• One in three respondents were somewhat or very dissatisfied with their company’s approach to finding key documents that could constitute evidence in an investigation.

Of the 317 individuals polled, nearly half identified as attorneys in companies’ legal or compliance departments, and the remainder as non-lawyer/administrator/other legal professionals responsible for investigations.

Sixty percent of respondents’ companies have revenue of over $100 million, and 15% of companies are based outside of the U.S.