Complying with all laws, rules and regulations and conducting business in accordance with high ethical standards is at the heart of everything we do at CMS Energy Corporation and Consumers Energy Company. We are committed to ensuring that our Boards of Directors, employees and suppliers understand the requirements pertaining to their specific job duties, as well as, our standards of conducting business with integrity.
We strive to instill a strong ethical culture throughout our companies. We believe that compliance with laws, rules, regulations and policies and reinforcement of ethical behavior starts in the individual business units. Ethical conduct, sound business practices and lawful activities are a part of our everyday business activities.
Our Boards of Directors have appointed a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) who has responsibility for coordinating, monitoring and reporting to them on compliance matters for our companies. The CCO aligns with operational leaders and subject matter experts across the company to establish a mature ethics and compliance program that routinely monitors for and assesses compliance risk, evaluates program effectiveness and identifies improvement opportunities. In addition to internal assessments, the program also utilizes independent audits and reviews to validate program performance.