I've always thought that dealing with government regulators is like dealing with anybody else in business: you need to gain their trust.
This article quotes a former director of the Office of Export Enforcement, Bureau of Industry and Security in the United States Department of Commerce on how his officers decide to proceed with an investigation:
When a law enforcement officer looks at a company, one of the first questions he or she asks him or herself will be: "Are these people good guys or bad guys?" Much is at stake for the officer. Initial information about the company's activities helps the officer decide not only how to begin the inquiry but, more importantly, how best to protect the safety of the officer and his or her fellow officers when dealing with the company. ..
If you were a federal agent charged with responsibility for investigating white collar crimes such as export control violations or securities fraud, and felt keenly the need to make a quick and accurate first assessment of whether a company consists of good guys who may have made a technical mistake, or terrorist supporters who wouldn't hesitate to defraud other companies in order to accomplish their mission, and who are completely willing to kill you in the process, what would be your test? On an interpersonal level, your initial "gut reaction" about the truthfulness of the people you meet and interview will tell you a great deal--but only about those individuals, not necessarily about the corporation as a whole. Is there some other information, at the corporate level, that could help you quickly assess the character of the whole organization?
At the initial stage of an investigation the single best indicator of whether a company is law abiding is whether the company has an effective compliance program. "According to available information, only 2 of the 865 corporations sentenced for federal crimes during the last eight years had effective compliance programs. Of the 143 organizations sentenced under Chapter 8 in 2002, not one maintained any type of compliance program whatsoever...
An experienced federal investigator knows that when he or she finds a company operating without an effective compliance program, the odds are in favor of discovering evidence of a crime.
The vast majority of business people have absolutely no desire to commit regulatory crimes. But small- and medium-sized companies must make difficult choices about how to come up with the money needed to insure a reasonable degree of compliance.
So, having a compliance program will not only help avoid committing breaches but may also be the difference in how investigators deal with you.