If your company looks to cut costs this year, it will probably look outside the realm of GRC.

Thirty-three percent of companies expect their compliance budgets to increase in 2010, and almost one in five companies expects to hire additional staff during the next 12 months, according to a survey jointly conducted by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA).

While that sounds optimistic, it should not suggest that 2009 was as difficult for GRC functions as it was for other areas of most corporations. The survey also indicates that nearly 75 percent of companies either kept compliance spending even or increased it in 2009 (compared to 2008).

A three-page summary of the survey findings is available here. ###