Compliance is one of those things where it's hard to quantify good performance. But at the end of the day, we all want to be evaluated for the good work we do. I know many institutions use audit and exam results as a metric to evaluate compliance performance, but I've also heard warnings as you don't have any direct control over stuff happening and then there goes your annual bonus - poof! Interested to hear if others of you are using any other types of performance metrics to evaluate the compliance function and the effectiveness of the compliance officer in your bank. Thanks for any feedback.

As the head of the compliance/security/BSA department here, my goals are tied to bank strategic initiatives and compliance specific initiatives. i.e. the successful implementation of the BO requirements under BSA bank-wide, covering policies, training, etc. I'm also Security Officer for the Bank so there are goals related to that function. I'm also Internal Audit Manager and we contracted with a new firm 4th Q of last year so a goal was to ensure year one of the new relationship with the firm was managed effectively and efficiently. Staff development is another goal. And as always, because compliance is what it is, ongoing goal is the function support of all other business lines. While many of those listed above can be viewed as subjective, I always ,make sure I have concrete examples of how I met these initiatives.

For my staff, they have specific functions, some are in compliance, others in BSA. So I give them specific goals related to what they do on a regular basis, a lot of times, related to efficiency gains, system or process enhancement. If something new is coming out, depending on what it is, they are tasked with assisting on implementation.

Goals need to be measurable to be attainable I feel. So saying "good exam and audit results" is too vague and as you state, to reliant upon everyone else doing their job.