INTHEBLACK September 2024 special edition - Flipbook - Page 22
“Even within an organisation, the
perception of whether the culture is ethical
will vary, unless there is some sort of
framework providing a point of reference.”
BELINDA ZOHRAB-MCCONNELL, CPA AUSTRALIA
“When ethical failures occur and you talk to the
people involved and ask them, ‘How did this happen?’,
the first thing they will say, quite truly, is ‘I didn’t see it
at the time’, ‘Everybody was doing it’, or ‘That is just
the way things were done’,” Longstaff explains.
W O R K P L A C E CU LT U R E
ETHICAL CULTURE CHARACTERISTICS
While not all organisations have a perfect ethical
culture, very few are unscrupulous to the core, so
ethical environments rarely need to be built from the
ground up. Some organisations may simply need to
build on what they already do well.
An ethical workplace culture will also look different
for everybody, says Belinda Zohrab-McConnell,
regulation and standards lead at CPA Australia.
“Even within an organisation, the perception of
whether the culture is ethical will vary, unless there
is some sort of framework providing a point of
reference.”
For accountants, an ethical culture can be built
upon the requirements set out in the APES 110 Code
of Ethics for Professional Accountants. However, for
anyone else in business, establishing or furthering an
ethical culture may be more challenging where there
is no framework to build upon.
In such situations, Zohrab-McConnell says the
existence or absence of an ethical culture can
be assessed against an organisation’s internal
and external-facing mission(s), values, strategies,
commitments and policies, and whether it is
prepared to be held accountable against these.
An ethical culture must be based on achievable
commitments and transparent outcomes, she adds.
For example, if a business is committed to
achieving gender diversity at management level, the
efforts undertaken to attain this – and the outcomes
of such efforts – must be communicated openly to
internal and external stakeholders, together with an
opportunity for open reflection on the strategy and
the results.
“Similarly, a commitment to openness and
transparency with stakeholders concerning a strategic
PRACTICES TO CULTIVATE AN ETHICAL CULTURE
INDIVIDUAL
ORGANISATIONAL
Clarify job expectations.
Set achievable goals with
transparent outcomes.
Ask questions.
Promote a culture of curiosity.
Share opportunities for
improvement with the
organisation.
Encourage employees to raise
ethical concerns at the earliest
opportunity.
Align actions with internal policies
and procedures.
Encourage open communications.
Reach out to colleagues and
managers when faced with an
ethical dilemma.
Celebrate ethical principles and
include them in performance
evaluations.
Identify personal values and
engage in self reflection.
Provide ethics training with
experiential and reflective
components.
Model ethical behaviour.
Model ethical behaviour.
22 INTHEBLACK September 2024 SPECIAL EDITION
Nor Yati binti
Ahmad FCPA
speaks on moral
excellence
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Ethics at Work
