INTHEBLACK September/October 2025 - Magazine - Page 51
Professional and Ethical Standards Board guidelines
or their firm’s internal policies.
Azoor Hughes advises employees to consult with
more senior colleagues or partners when they are
uncertain about situations that arise during their
professional work.
“Often, an uneasy feeling will be the first prompt
to an employee to examine and consult on an issue
of concern, to determine the course of action
needed,” she says.
Smith recommends employees adopt a threestage approach to staying on the right path: prepare
in advance for ethical challenges, make good
decisions in the moment and reflect on and learn
from successes and failures. To support this approach,
employees can take several steps to proactively
prepare for ethical challenges, rather than simply
reacting when they occur, Smith says.
These include identifying their personal
values, setting ethically relevant goals, engaging
in self-reflection and finding an ethics mentor or
seeking guidance and moral feedback from others.
It is also important for individuals to consult
organisational policies, clarify the expectations
for their role and find a job with the right moral
“fit”, where their own values align with the
organisation, he adds.
ORGANISATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
When employees identify an opportunity to
make improvements, Zohrab-McConnell urges
them to share it with their employer.
She also believes employees should hold
their organisation accountable to the changing
expectations of stakeholders — what may have
been considered ethical 10 years ago may no
longer be seen in the same light.
“Quite apart from legislative and regulatory
changes over such a period, societal
expectations may have changed substantially,”
Zohrab-McConnell says.
“For the benefit of both internal and external
stakeholders, the standards to which an organisation
holds itself and its workforce accountable must be
reviewed regularly.” ●
UPSKILL
with CPA Australia’s Ethical
Dilemmas in Accounting course
READ
an article on how to create
a speak-up culture
GLOBAL GAME CHANGERS intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 51
