When Walmart begins its ISO 37001 process, the compliance earth will move. Walmart's global supply chain will undoubtedly become involved. Of all stakeholders, Walmart shareholders should celebrate the most. In the last 10 years, Walmart has spent over 800 million dollars on legal fees, compliance and risk management costs, including resolving issues with the US Department of Justice. For Walmart, the cost of ISO 37001 certification (an ounce of prevention) will be as budget dust compared to the tons of cure it has spent on compliance – and that will be only one benefit it accrues by embracing ISO 37001.

This new global standard for anti-bribery management systems is not meant to demean the many well-intended programs adopted by many entities in recent decades to fight bribery. ISO 37001 does represent a global consensus strategy, and real hope for turning of the corner against, bribery at home and abroad.

Like navigating a gator-infested swamp, FCPA pitfalls – real or imagined – can lurk anywhere in the business cycle. Potential liability can result from the actions of agents, business partners, family, or well-meaning friends. ISO 37001 offers tools to help inoculate against FCPA hazards while providing competitive advantages to help grow markets and revenues.

• ISO 37001 adoption by the private sector (internally and through the supply chain) and the public sector (in procurement) will reduce bribery risk and lower costs.
• For many, a voluntary "front end" ounce of preventionin the form of an ISO 37001 review beats a mandatory ten pounds of cure – "back end" scrutiny if the US DoJ initiates an investigation under the FCPA.
• ISO 37001 certification provides an effective way for companies to monitor and verify the activities of their suppliers.
• ISO 37001 includes a number of internal business management processes that can lead to compliance stream-lining and cost-cutting.
• In a bid process, being ISO 37001 compliant is competitive advantage over those who are not.

ISO 37001 is designed "to instill an anti-bribery culture within an organization and implement appropriate controls, which will in turn increase the chance of detecting bribery and reduce its incidence in the first place." With ISO 37001, US businesses have tangible tools and a sense of order to understand and organize internal processes to address potential FCPA concerns. Third parties can certify an organization’s compliance with the standard in the same way they do for other ISO standards such as ISO 9001. The certification process is not simple – but once accomplished, certification limits FCPA downside risk and dramatically opens upside business growth potential.

*"[Justice Department FCPA] guidance fails to assure the business community that the agencies will give sufficient weight to strong compliance programs, falls short of clearly defining who is a 'foreign official,' and introduces new uncertainty with respect to the agencies’ expectations in the wake of a merger or acquisition. Furthermore, the [FCPA Guidance] ... does not illustrate, through examples or hypotheticals, the level of due diligence expected when businesses hire outside vendors and contractors to engage in foreign markets." — US Chamber of Commerce Letter to US Department of Justice, 2013

In the United States, professional firms are in the process of becoming accredited to certify organizations of all types, including small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), large companies, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other organizations. US-based certifying bodies are expected to be accredited in early 2018. Certain European countries' accreditation bodies are already accrediting ISO 37001 certifying bodies.

Through gap assessments that identify missing or non-conforming ISO 37001 components, many companies have already begun compliance audits, either using internal audit or outside professionals, to prepare for ISO 37001 certification.