Welcome to the Institutional Compliance and Ethics Program website.

The mission of the program is to promote an ethical culture and commitment to compliance with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and procedures that govern the university.

Our goal is to uphold stakeholder expectations and support excellence by creating a compliance and ethics framework that is:

• Collaborative - working in step with all university constituencies to examine processes and address compliance issues;
• Proactive - advocating ethics and compliance awareness at all levels of the university; and
• Action-oriented - through communication, education, training, assessment, monitoring, and reporting.

Primary oversight for the compliance and ethics program resides with the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO). Program management and coordination of overall University compliance activities are provided by the Institutional Compliance and Ethics Council (ICEC). In addition to regular reporting, the ICEC will escalate significant compliance issues to the appropriate System Councils, President's Cabinet, and/or Board of Trustees' Finance and Audit Workgroup.

• Developing, establishing, and maintaining an effective system-wide compliance and ethics program designed to prevent, monitor, detect, and respond to non-compliance and recommend corrective actions to fully meet regulatory requirements.  This includes a system of education and training to promote compliance awareness.
• Ensuring that the University has the necessary policies and procedures in place to effectively comply with applicable state and federal regulations.
• Marketing and managing the University’s confidential compliance and ethics reporting system (EthicsPoint).
• Investigating (or cause to be investigated) all issues of substance that arise through EthicsPoint or other proactive compliance monitoring activities.
• Developing an institutional “Compliance and Ethics Guide” designed to emphasize the responsibility of all USF employees to be aware of and to perform their duties in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations and policies and procedures of the University and the Florida Board of Governors.
• Ensuring that appropriate corrective and disciplinary action, if needed, is taken by management in the event of non-compliance.
• Chairing the Institutional Compliance and Ethics Council composed of university compliance officers and designated responsible officers for all high-risk areas.
• Assisting the Executive Director of Audit & Compliance with the facilitation of a university-wide enterprise risk assessment program.
• Communicating with executive management regarding compliance program activities, particularly compliance gaps that may exist in high-risk areas and significant instances of non-compliance.

Institutional Compliance & Ethics Council (ICEC)

• Advocate ethical conduct and compliance as an integral part of all university operations—“everybody’s responsibility.”
• Identify high risk areas, university functions involved in compliance activities, and responsible officers.
• Create Council “Working Groups” to study and design improved processes, as needed, for high risk compliance areas.
• Identify and address compliance gaps (issues or processes where compliance risk exposure exists or accountability is not clear), particularly where such issues involve more than one functional unit.
• Compile a “universe” of applicable laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures for each area of responsibility and suggest new policies or procedures when needed.
• Create a Regulatory Reporting Calendar.
• Identify the need for education and training and assist in creating training tools.
• Collaborate to find solutions, facilitate communication, and share successful practices.
• Identify emerging compliance risks, regulations, and areas of regulatory interest.
• Provide a forum for ongoing discussion of the direction, priorities, and effectiveness of the institutional compliance and ethics program.