INTHEBLACK September 2024 special edition - Flipbook - Page 8
NUMBER CRUNCH
FA C T S A N D F I GU R E S
WORDS SUSAN MULDOWNEY
49%
69%
of accounting professionals are
concerned about ethical dilemmas
and biases related to AI.
of CEOs view sustainability
as a leading business growth
opportunity in 2024.
Source: The State of Accounting in 2024, Karbon
Source: Gartner
ETHICAL ADVANTAGE
Ethics plays a crucial role in fostering a fair and
just society, enhancing business integrity and
promoting sustainable development. There is
also an economic case for improving ethics.
The Ethics Centre, based in Sydney, Australia,
recently commissioned Deloitte Access
Economics to develop a framework to quantify
the economic and social benefits of a more
ethical Australia.
The economic modelling uses data from many
public and private sources including the ABS,
World Bank, World Values Survey, RepTrak,
IBISWorld and HILDA.
The report authors also applied insights from
interviews with a range of public and private
sector leaders familiar with ethics and economic
performance.
8 INTHEBLACK September 2024 SPECIAL EDITION
The resulting analysis identifies a range of
benefits from improving ethics:
• A 10 per cent improvement in ethical behaviour
is associated with a 1 per cent improvement in
mental health and a 2.7 per cent increase
in wages.
• Improving a business’ ethical reputation can
improve its relationships with customers and
suppliers and lead to a 7 per cent increase in
return on assets.
• At the economy-wide level, if Australia improved
ethical behaviour to world-leading standards,
the increase in trust could boost average annual
income per person by approximately A$1800,
resulting in a A$45 billion increase in GDP.
Read the report
