1.
BUSINESS ETHICS &
THE BOTTOM LINE
INTERNAL AUDIT’S
OPPORTUNITY
David Mallard
Managing Values
values.com.au

2.
The Changing Business Environment
A 2012 IBM study of over
1,500 CEOs identified
their number one concern
in business as ‘Perpetual
Whitewater’ characterised
by global markets that are:
•
•
•
•
Volatile
Uncertain
Complex
Ambiguous

3.
Interconnected
Where everything and everyone is interconnected
‘Sneeze in London, catch a cold in Melbourne’

4.
Interconnected
The new public square - social media

5.
Interconnected
Where digitisation has
empowered consumers,
employees and
grassroots activists to
take immediate direct
action

6.
Interconnected
In the online world
everything you do privately
and/or within your
organisation can find its
way into the public domain

7.
Connectivity Increases Vulnerability
• The internet means more people now see how
you do things, how you impact on others and can
tell others how you should be held accountable
• Stakeholder internet retaliation - anytime for little
or no cost and without restraint

8.
Risk Profile?

9.
Strategic Risk
Reputation Risk
Exploring Strategic Risk - December 2013

10.
Strategic Risk
‘Reputation risk is now the biggest risk concern, due
in large measure to the rise of social media, which
enables instantaneous global communications that
make it harder for companies to control how they are
perceived in the marketplace’.
Linking ethical behaviour to reputation
makes ethics integral to what drives
business success e.g. Starbucks & Google
tax minimisation fallout

11.
Business Ethics vs. Individual Morality
Who decides what’s ethical ?
takes the lead in deciding what
is unethical and has defined
ethical business as:
Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability
 Do systems and behaviours support stated values?
 Do people understand the difference between personal & organisational
values & when one takes priority over the other?
 Does your business Ethical Code & its values guide decision-making at work?

12.
Decisions made have a direct impact on the 2
primary sources of organisational capital
Social capital
Financial Capital

13.
Business Ethics Context
• Business ethics is a management accountability in US,
UK & Europe
• Ethical risks are known & regulators demand more
than a paper trail
• Australia is out of step - business ethics is often seen
as a ‘discretionary endeavour’
• IBM’s CEO research highlights a trend to greater
organisational transparency & accountability i.e.
values rather than rules
• Many leaders invest in ethics management systems to
protect their people

14.
Business ethics dynamics
• Employees consistently report they are working in
environments conducive to misconduct
• Fall out from GFC led many boards to concentrate on
compliance and paper trails at the expense of
managing culture
• However, compliance inhibits a holistic view of how
risk issues emerge
• Ethical skill development promotes managerial &
personal accountability

15.
Do ethical failures matter?
• 2013 Leighton Holdings allegations
• 2012 UBS fined $29.7m for system failures
• 2012 HSBC paid $1.92billion to settle charges of money
laundering
• 2012 Barclay’s fined £290m manipulating key interest rates
• 2010 BAE Systems pays £400m settle bribery charges
• 2010 Rio Tinto employees jailed for bribery in China
• 2010 Daimler paid $185m fines bribing foreign government
officials
• 2008 Siemens paid $1.6billion to settle global corruption case

16.
Discipline of business ethics
• Focus on the institutional & contextual dynamics that
shape employee behaviour
• Demands that leaders move beyond ‘tone’ setting to
aim higher - beyond legal minimums
• To design institutional practices that encourage &
reward ethical behaviour
• To establish robust ladders of escalation

17.
Investing in an Ethical Culture
A strong positive relationship between business
performance and corporate integrity

18.
Investing in an Ethical Culture
The Hay Groups WoMAC’s were found to have
outperformed average shareholder growth by
about a quarter to two-fifths above normal
returns
Corporate Executive Board research shows that
integrity leaders incur only one-eighth the
costs of misconduct than competitors, and
have 12% lower labour costs because their
employees invest more discretionary effort,
with shareholder returns 6% higher than the
average company

19.
Investing in an Ethical Culture
2011 Australian research of 78
organisations found companies
that focused on culture as well as
financial performance indicators
were 3 times more profitable

20.
Investing in an Ethical Culture
The following 4 attributes are statistically proven to both
foster a healthy culture and reduce the likelihood of ethical
misconduct:
1.
2.
3.
4.
A sense of organisational justice
Honesty and integrity in relationships
Respect and trust for employees
Listening carefully to the opinions of others
How does your organisation track on these?
The research also highlights that organisations with systems
and processes to enable risk and compliance information
flows but that do not have leaders with the right ethical
qualities, will still struggle.

21.
Investing in an Ethical Culture
 Demonstrate ethical leadership e.g. remuneration that rewards
sustainable practices & culture builders, not just revenue, sales etc
 It is the regular measurement and management of culture that
differentiates high-performing organisations from their peers
 Actively measure your leaders - objective and subjective
 Educate employees and deliver organisational justice by responding
quickly and consistently to unethical practices
 Leading businesses in Asia are increasingly investing in ethical culture
development to mitigate against local practices

22.
Internal Audit’s Role in Building an
Ethical Culture
• Effective management of business ethics risk requires an organisational
strategy that is in tune with wider societal values and the public’s growing
expectations of business.
• Business Ethics is about risk management effectiveness - its directly in Audit’s
sweet spot
• Leverage Internal Audit’s unique organisational position to influence the ethic’s
conversation: CEO, CRO, Board members
• Include an Ethical Risk benchmark review in your Audit coverage – compare
your organisation to better practice - sell recommendations in the context of
mitigating risk and improving the bottom line. Promote Audit along the value
curve
• The ethics whitepaper is one reference point to commence

23.
Successful businesses of the
future will:
• Build organisational integrity as an enabler of business
profitability and success
• Embrace ethics and transparency as way of flattening
hierarchies & engaging employees
• Step up to meet employee desire to be part of a
business that seeks to enhance society as well as
deliver bottom line results
• Leverage Internal Audit’s unique position for
influencing change

24.
White Paper
Detailed research found in
White Paper written by
Managing Values for the
Institute of Chartered
Accountants.

25.
More Information
www.values.com.au
email: david@values.com.au