Businesses should practice ethical decision making- ACCA

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has urged businesses to focus more on ethical responsibilities and prioritise, recruitment of senior executives and financial staff with strong ethical standards as a risk management strategy.

The report, ‘Risk and reward -tempering the pursuit of profit', which looks at where the financial system went wrong prior to the global financial crisis, identified massive failure of ‘people risk’ as having exacerbated the crisis.
"The financial crisis highlighted serious ethical failings", said Mr Paul Moxey, ACCA's head of corporate governance.

He further added that: “Businesses of all kinds, including banks, have been increasingly policed by reams of rules and regulations. But we have seen during the crisis that despite all these regulatory requirements, or perhaps because of them, individuals exploited gaps.”

The report launched recently says a strong commitment to ethical business conduct on the part directors and key staff is a strong line of defence against reputational damage.

“It is also an essential part of a risk management strategy.” The report recommends businesses to ensure strong ethical culture that includes setting the right tone at the top and ensuring that such a strong ethical culture is reflected throughout the organisation.

It further argues that businesses should be aware of out-sourcing their sense of ethical responsibility to compliance with external rules and maintain internal profiles with sufficient resources.

Mr Moxey advises that the easiest way to find ethically literate candidates is to look for those with qualifications that place ethics at the centre of their syllabus.

Source: Daily Monitor UG