What is Compliance?  

Compliance means abiding by applicable laws, regulations, and policies.  In a university setting, compliance is less about regulating individual behavior than it is about understanding applicable regulatory requirements that apply to university activities as an institution and ensuring that we meet them. The University of North Texas engages in a broad range of activities, which makes understanding and complying with all of the applicable requirements challenging, but a challenge we can work toward overcoming together. The University Integrity and Compliance office manages the university's compliance and ethics program based on the US federal sentencing guidelines.

University Compliance and Ethics Program objectives include:

  • Promoting compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements, policies, and procedures.

  • Ensuring the program is risk-based and considers all aspects of the university's operations.

  • Ensuring the program includes effective monitoring that prevents accidental or intentional noncompliance with applicable laws and regulatory requirements; detecting such noncompliance; when it occurs, ensuring that the noncompliant behavior is appropriately addressed; and, preventing future noncompliance.

  • Educating as necessary and providing guidance to faculty and staff.

Some Principle Functions of the Program Include:

  • Assisting in identifying and evaluating the institution's highest compliance risks.

  • Assessing and monitoring the effectiveness of pre-existing internal control or recommending controls when needed.

  • Reviewing reports of misconduct via the Trust Line

  • Follow up on all reported instances of non-compliance to ensure management has taken appropriate corrective action.

  • Management and resolution of complaints or concerns received via Trust Line or by direct communication.

Compliance Monitoring Includes:

  • A comprehensive effort.

  • A commitment toward compliance with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and procedures.

  • University Integrity & Compliance directly monitors the highest-institutional risks.

  • University Integrity & Compliance coordinates with compliance partners to ensure that lower-level risks are appropriately managed.