what is a compliance officer 
a compliance officer is an employee of a company that ensures the firm is in compliance with its outside regulatory and legal requirements as well as internal policies and bylaws the chief compliance officer is usually the head of a firm s compliance department compliance officers have a duty to their employer to work with management and staff to identify and manage regulatory risk their objective is to ensure that an organization has internal controls that adequately measure and manage the risks it faces compliance officers provide an in house service that effectively supports business areas in their duty to comply with relevant laws and regulations and internal procedures the compliance officer is usually the company s general counsel but not always 