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2003
Ethics and the risk manager
APRIL 2003: The ethical
exposure-any risk a company takes by behaving unethically-is not mentioned
in risk management textbooks. Yet, unethical behavior can expose a company
to potential property loss, liability torts and other risks. The risk
manager need not be reminded of the criminal and civil lawsuits facing
Enron, Tyco, WorldCom and Rite Aid, to say nothing of the many insurance
companies that are in liquidation today.
Since this threat exists
within every organization as well as in the vendors that serve them, the
risk manager must subscribe to a high code of internal organizational ethics
and integrity. The risk manager must demand that his or her company, as well
its vendors, live by that code. (Read
more...)
The Rewards of Dishonesty
March 2003: Lies told in a
heartbeat can have permanent and irreversible consequences. One instance of
rationalized dishonesty can lead to a pattern of fraud.
About 10 years ago, I was
instructing a CFE Exam preparatory seminar in Newark. There were about 50
people in the class. As is customary for such events, attendees signed in
each day for the three-day course to obtain continuing education credit.
During one of the breaks on
the third day, a student approached me, as I was standing alone at the end
of the hall. Quietly, he said, "There are two CPAs signed in from the same
firm. But one of them, Wally, hasn't been there since the first day. His
friend Jack is signing in for him." (Read
more...)
Ensuring Ethical Effectiveness
FEBRUARY 2003: Stung by the high-profile accounting scandals
that drove some the nation’s leading companies into bankruptcy court,
Congress and other regulatory authorities have taken up their pens in an
attempt to legislate business behaviour. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which
President Bush signed into law in July of 2002, requires publicly traded
companies to disclose whether they have adopted a code of ethics for their
senior financial officers, and if not, why. They also must report promptly
any amendments to or waivers from the code. (Read
more...)
2002
Test Your Knowledge of Professional Ethics
OCTOBER 2002: Periodically, the JofA publishes questions on ethics
topics that AICPA members have raised. This set of questions deals with
interpretations under the newly revised Rule 101—Independence as defined in
the Code of Professional Conduct (AICPA Professional Standards) (Read
more...)
An Ethics Quiz
AUGUST 2002: The professional image of CPAs currently is
under siege. Long esteemed as trusted advisers possessing high standards for
independence and ethics, practitioners—large and small, good and (in rare
cases) bad—will be negatively affected by the Enron scandal for some time to
come. In this climate of increased scrutiny, all CPAs need to be mindful of
the everyday ethical issues that are part of performing client services. A
CPA particularly needs to exercise informed judgment when making a decision
about whether he or she is fully qualified—that is, capable of exercising
professional due care—for an engagement. (Read
more...)
2001
Shades of Gray -
corporate codes of ethics
APRIL 2001: Universal codes of
ethics cannot be overlaid in every sector of the world, or in every market.
Internal auditors -- especially those who work in multinational
organizations -- must understand the mix of ethical behaviors and how they
impact corporate codes of ethics.
Well-developed corporate codes
of ethics help organizations foster ethical environments, deter unethical
behavior and cope with problems and ethical dilemmas. The codes establish
the ground rules by which the organization operates and evaluates. (Read
more...)
Corporate Integrity Check-up
Your company is highly ethical, of course!
But what about your partners?
Put any (large) company through this free
checkup to compare their ethical health with others. You can use
the results as part of your due diligence process for partnering,
or as the baseline measure for your own ethical fitness program.
(The checkup is worded as if you are examining your own
company.)
Rate your company against the following 25
best practices in ethics management. Answer according to your
current situation, rather than the ideal or what you are hoping
to become. (Read
more...)
A question of ethics
JANUARY 2000: “It is necessary only for the
good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.”
The quotation above is attributed to Edmund
Burke (1729 - 1797) and it still rings true today.
One of the major evils facing the world, and
South Africa is no exception, is the growth in the occurrence of fraud and
corruption, and perhaps even worse, the apparent acceptance by society of
such occurrence as being "the cost of doing business". (Read
more...)
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