{"id":3175,"date":"2018-09-23T11:35:21","date_gmt":"2018-09-23T11:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crigroup.com\/?p=3175"},"modified":"2021-10-08T11:35:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T11:35:17","slug":"successful-ethics-compliance-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crigroup.com\/ar\/successful-ethics-compliance-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Any successful ethics and compliance strategy needs 5 key ingredients …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, the idea of business ethics was more of an abstract or philosophical notion that seemed more suited for discussion in a university lecture or at a business conference. Today, however, organisations of all sizes and industries must have concrete ways of addressing ethics and compliance issues as a principal component of their business processes and strategy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to a study by PwC, 98 per cent of senior leaders say they’re committed to compliance and ethics; however, only 67 per cent have a process in place to identify the owners of compliance and ethics-related risks, with only a third having an officer in place for the overall compliance and ethics. Fifty-six per cent of the companies don’t have a chief ethics officer at all, and only 20 per cent have a Board of Directors that formed separate compliance and ethics committees. The study reports that 82 per cent of leaders communicated with employees on ethics, but 46 per cent of this is done in business meetings or by email. You can read the result on the full\u00a0<\/span>PwC website<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Business leaders are usually quick to communicate their expectations to employees, especially when it comes to financial goals or tasks that they want to be accomplished. However, what is often lacking is a clear, concise explanation of what the organisation expects regarding ethical behaviour and a compliance framework in place to follow. Today citizens, media, politicians and international bodies across all regions actively condemn abuses of power. And past scandals and their consequences have created a demand for increased regulations, greater transparency, and other rigorous scrutiny measures to be taken. To maintain (or regain) public trust, the ethics and compliance function has been placed at the centre of the strategic core of organisations by effective leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Empower your organisation to mitigate risk!<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

To ensure a robust compliance and ethics strategy, five critical elements need to be implemented; 1) tone at the top; 2) corporate culture; 3) risk management, 4) a Chief Compliance Officer; and 4) testing and monitoring.<\/span><\/p>\n

1 – Building Tone at the Top<\/span><\/h3>\n

“Tone at the top” is a term used to describe the ethical atmosphere created at an organisation or workplace by their leaders and their attitudes and behaviours. Tone at the top is vital in determining whether fraud, bribery, or corruption are likely to occur. Because all levels of management set it, it has a trickle-down effect on all employees. If the top leaders show a robust and zero-tolerance approach to fraud, employees are likely to lead by example.<\/span><\/p>\n

An organisation with a strong ethical culture is usually led by a board of directors and senior management personnel who actively promote a culture of compliance and zero tolerance for fraud and other unethical business behaviour. Effective tone at the top will communicate to the organisation at all levels the expected type of conduct, what is considered unacceptable, and what the consequences will be for transgressions. A\u00a0<\/span>zero-tolerance approach<\/span><\/a>\u00a0should be followed at all times; it is vital in maintaining the culture of ethics and compliance at the organisation; below are some examples of failed tone at the top:<\/span><\/p>\n