International Expansion Outweighs M&A as Top Compliance Burden, CSC Study Finds
Event summary
- 74% of senior cross-border professionals cite international expansion as a leading legal and compliance burden, compared to 28% for M&A.
- 54% of respondents report redoing work due to missing, outdated, or inconsistent entity and ownership information.
- Half of respondents experience delays of 1–2 weeks due to entity, compliance, or ownership issues.
- 66% of organizations are assigning clear owners for cross-border work to mitigate challenges.
The big picture
CSC’s research highlights a growing operational challenge for firms expanding globally, where ongoing compliance and entity governance create more friction than M&A transactions. As businesses navigate fragmented regulatory environments, the need for standardized processes and real-time data coordination is becoming critical. The findings underscore a broader industry shift toward outsourcing and technology-driven solutions to manage cross-border complexity.
What we're watching
- Execution Risk
- How the pace of international expansion will strain in-house legal and compliance teams without scalable solutions.
- Technology Adoption
- Whether organizations will accelerate investment in entity management technology to reduce rework and delays.
- Outsourcing Trends
- The extent to which firms will rely on external partners for specialized cross-border compliance work.