The Lifespan of Corporate Investigations - Practical & Strategic Considerations

Introduction

With ongoing commercial pressures on companies caused by economic instability creating an environment ripe for financial crime and geopolitical issues such as the evolving sanctions landscape heightening the importance of robust compliance frameworks, an increase in corporate investigations can be predicted. As such, it is vital to understand the key strategic legal considerations that protect businesses conducting corporate investigations, from the decision to initiate through to conclusion.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) has significantly reformed corporate criminal liability. It has expanded the identification doctrine for specified economic crimes, enabling criminal liability to attach to a company where a senior manager, acting within the actual or apparent scope of their authority, commits a relevant offence.

Further, since 1 September 2025, the ‘Failure to Prevent Fraud’ (FTPF) offence has been in force. This strict liability offence applies to large organisations and creates criminal exposure where an associated person commits fraud for the organisation’s benefit, unless the organisation can demonstrate that it had reasonable procedures in place to prevent such fraud.

In addition, the Crime and Policing Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, proposes to extend the reformed ‘senior manager’ attribution model beyond economic crimes to a wider range of criminal offences.

The combined effect of the FTPF offence now being in force and the expansion of the identification doctrine is that corporate offences are easier to prosecute and more difficult to defend. Consequently, organisations must take potential instances of corporate wrongdoing and the strategic conduct of internal investigations more seriously than ever.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The practical and strategic considerations when deciding whether to initiate a corporate investigation in the post-FTPF landscape
• Governance considerations, including who should receive investigation findings and when it may be appropriate to exclude certain senior executives
• Mandatory reporting scenarios and timeframes, and the strategic considerations around voluntary self-reporting to enforcement authorities and regulators
• The key components of an effective investigation plan, including when to engage external counsel, forensic accountants, and other specialists
• Managing legal privilege, confidentiality, data privacy, and document retention during internal investigations
• Best practices for conducting witness interviews and structuring investigation reports
• Enforcement trends emerging since the FTPF offence came into force, and practical steps organisations should now be taking to mitigate risk under ECCTA

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Wednesday 26th August 2026

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