Fraud is and will only continue to be a hot topic in the business world, so it’s important to understand that routine background checks are inadequate to detect all critical information necessary to protect a company’s board of directors from fiduciary exposure and potential shareholder lawsuits. These background checks do not look at enough public records and only contain very limited public record searches. In fact, statewide and nationwide criminal searches that are a part of routine background checks often miss as much as 75 percent of all criminal convictions. But a deep-dive executive background check or executive due diligence includes more than 30 components of public record data and also takes a look at news sources and Internet data, revealing things like reputation, misrepresented education and overstated work history, undisclosed business involvement, conflicts of interest, real estate holdings and financial and legal issues. Businesses should conduct an executive background check when: hiring a new executive, selecting new board members, screening corporate boards of directors, acquiring a new business subsidiary, contracting with third-party business parties and agents globally, as a routine on their executives and board members, and as part of regulatory compliance to meet requirements of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
