This practical guide shows how to build an effective compliance and ethics program that will lower a business's risks and improve productivity. Research increasingly supports the notion that ethical, compliant businesses see increased productivity across a range of measurements. This practical guide tells business professionals, business and law students, and other interested parties exactly how that goal can be achieved. The book covers an extensive range of ethics-compliant laws and regulations impacting businesses today and identifies critical factors for successful compliance programs. Going well beyond works that speak in general terms about compliance-based actions, this unique volume delves into details about specific regulatory issues and the steps that can be taken to mitigate risk. The first half of the book shares general guidelines for creating or improving internal compliance and ethics programs. The second half identifies specific, high-risk regulatory areas; provides an overview of relevant laws; and sets forth best practices specific to the regulations discussed. By providing a simplified understanding of compliance with laws related to issues such as antitrust, international business, wages and labor, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and health care, the environment and more, the guide offers readers the tools necessary to improve an existing compliance program or create a new program where none has existed before.