Conflicts of Interest and Independence Questions

Covers identification, assessment, mitigation, and governance of conflicts of interest across corporate and procurement contexts, plus the concept of professional independence. Candidates should be able to explain common procurement fraud risks such as supplier fraud, employee kickbacks, collusion, and false invoicing, and how those schemes create or are driven by conflicts of interest. Expect discussion of policies and controls that prevent and detect fraud and conflicted behavior, including procurement segregation of duties, vendor due diligence, disclosure requirements, approval and escalation workflows, monitoring, audits, and investigation procedures. Covers practical approaches to identifying and managing personal and institutional conflicts, including disclosure, recusal, limits on participation, use of independent review, and remediation. For legal roles, includes preserving independence when acting as in house counsel, recognizing when to engage outside counsel, handling privileged communications, and balancing duties to the company with professional and ethical obligations. Candidates should also be able to give examples of decision frameworks, stakeholder communication, training and culture building to reduce conflict risk, and metrics or controls used to measure effectiveness.