Companies should be going above and beyond what’s legally required to earn leniency from the Securities and Exchange Commission, its top enforcement official said at a gathering of white collar defense attorneys and in-house counsel in Palo Alto, California, on Thursday.

“The most frequent question I get asked is, ‘What are the benefits of cooperating with the SEC?’” said Gurbir Grewal, director of the Division of Enforcement. Put another way, companies want to know what effective cooperation with the SEC looks like and how it can help them avoid being penalized for missteps.