Reputation Audits

When others evaluate you or your organization, what do they see? When potential business partners, regulators, lenders, investors and the media look at your public and social media profile—and especially the trove of information (or misinformation) available online—what do they find? The answer to this question determines your business opportunities, access to funds, ability to obtain needed regulatory approvals and your overall reputation. In today’s increasingly aggressive regulatory environment where there is greater aversion to risk at banks and other financial institutions, your reputation is even more important. Unfortunately, due diligence conducted by others can easily include information that, unbeknownst to you, is superficial, incomplete, outdated or patently false, leading to flawed conclusions. 

A Kroll Reputation Audit allows you to take control of managing your reputation. Our global investigations team begins by assembling a thorough inventory of the information available about you or your organization, providing a picture of your reputation risk as it may be perceived by potential counterparties and other stakeholders. Where there are dangerous gaps between that perception and reality, we conduct a rigorous, fact-based investigation, our investigators working alongside our data analysts, researchers, forensic accountants and local industry and area specialists. Our findings give you the verifiable information you need to set the record straight regarding events as they actually happened, your sources of wealth, track record, business practices and other issues—and to do so backed by Kroll’s unimpeachable reputation for independence and credibility. Our reputation is backed by global corporations, financial institutions, regulators, law enforcement and the wider investment community. 

A Kroll Reputation Audit provides a fact-based platform that allows organizations and individuals to combat misinformation and disinformation. In addition, we can conduct a corporate governance gap analysis and remediation plan to help you more effectively manage reputation going forward. We also partner with legal advisors to support defamation suits and other actions.

Kroll’s Reputation Audits are customized to meet the needs of each specific engagement and have included the following scenarios:

Pre-IPO and Debt Financing

A company going public or seeking debt financing cannot allow itself to be at the mercy of superficial third-party due diligence. A Kroll Reputation Audit provides an objective and factual account of corporate history, track record, reputation and business practices, including the origins and sources of funds, so that counterparties to the transaction can accurately and fairly assess potential risks ahead. 

Regulatory Approval

Clients seeking regulatory approvals or who are facing regulatory scrutiny benefit from an independent assessment of their compliance with anti-money laundering, sanctions regimes and other regulations. We are frequently called to assist companies applying for a specific license under EU regulations or for CFIUS approval for an acquisition in the U.S.  

Enquiries from the compliance departments of banks and other regulated institutions: Know Your Customer procedures at Western financial institutions and at commercial counterparties often require addressing negative issues that are circulating in the public domain, such as adverse news articles or the presence of ongoing disputes and litigation. A Kroll Reputation Audit helps bridge the gap between allegations and fact, providing an independently verified assessment of controversial issues. 

Countering Smear Campaigns

It has become a widespread practice, especially in emerging markets, for commercial adversaries to launch smear campaigns in the media. Clients and their legal counsel rely on Kroll’s independent investigation to establish that the allegations are false so that findings can be used by public relations advisors as well as to support legal claims for defamation.