Mr Carson worked for ASIC for 10 years before he left to establish consultancy business Compliance One in December 2012.
He began his stint as an investigator with the ASIC financial services enforcement team before moving into compliance in 2005.
Mr Carson is currently providing advice to several financial planning firms and consumer credit licensees that are operating under enforceable undertakings (EUs) or have had conditions attached to their licences.
An EU is the end product of a negotiation with ASIC whereby the entity agrees to the facts of the case, commits to remedial action and (where relevant) promises to restitute clients.
ASIC will only consider an EU in cases where it would have otherwise taken civil or administrative action against an entity, said Mr Carson.
It is effectively a “flash forward” to the probable outcome of any legal action, he said.
“It just saves everyone the time, the effort and the money to make that outcome happen,” said Mr Carson.
But because ASIC is increasingly concerned about the public message it projects, there is no guarantee it will always agree to an EU, he said.
“Having a court ruling on a specific matter may have a lot more weight than an entity admitting wrongdoing and entering into an EU,” said Mr Carson.
On the other hand, one of the downsides of an EU is that it can sometimes result in a worse outcome for the firm in question, he said.
“They may be required to concede too much, or agree to a result that the court may not have imposed,” said Mr Carson.
So it is very important to make sure you have the “full picture” and understand exactly what ASIC's concerns are before you offer an EU, he said.
Any firm that has an ASIC request for information land on its desk should respond to the regulator quickly and fully, said Mr Carson.
“Sometimes giving incomplete answers or being slow to respond will only heighten ASIC's concern,” he said.
“The regulator’s going to get the information eventually anyway – it just has to escalate its approach,” he added.
In addition, firms should ask plenty of questions of ASIC to ensure they are providing exactly what the regulator wants, said Mr Carson.
“In most cases, if ASIC is able to give more information and clarify its concerns it will do so,” he said.
It may turn out that the regulator's concerns can be immediately addressed by quickly providing the right information, said Mr Carson.
But things don't always end happily. Firms that come to Mr Carson for help tend to be “shattered”.
“Every client I've spoken to that has been through this process has said it's absolutely exhausting – it's harrowing,” he said.
Mr Carson admitted that his attitude has softened somewhat now that he is on "the other side" of ASIC enforcement.
“When I was at ASIC, my perception was that the law is there, it's clear, and you must comply – and if you don't, you should be held to account,” he said.
But now that he is on the outside looking in, he realises that not all misconduct is intentional – although some of it is “quite deliberate or very lazy”.
“I now understand that sometimes people are using their best endeavours, but just get it wrong,” said Mr Carson.
