Security News > 2021 > March > Compliance department spending plateaued in 2020

A study of 117 organizations in the second half of 2020 showed that compliance department spending was projected to plateau in 2020 after several years of rapid growth, according to Gartner.

"Like many business functions, compliance spending has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic," said Brian Lee, managing vice president in the Gartner Legal and Compliance practice.

A deeper look into compliance department spending found that the median compliance department decreased its headcount between 2017-2020 from 12 to 10 full-time employees.

"Many compliance functions were allocating more spend in 2020 to external experts, training and communication vendors and compliance technology expenses than in 2019.".

While compliance departments only planned to increase their personnel spending 1.6% in 2019-2020, the median compliance department planned to increase their spending on external experts and services by 30%. Similarly, compliance technology expenses were projected to increase 15% and compliance training and communication vendors spending to increase 13%. "Compliance's mandate has expanded and organizational risks have been heightened by the pandemic," said Mr. Lee.

Compliance leaders who are facing an increased workload without any increase in staffing should also evaluate technology offerings that offer insight into an expanded compliance risk universe and control for threats to ensure a strong compliance culture.

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