Ethics and Codes

Below is some of the most recent Compliance Week coverage on issues related to ethics, including topics ranging from tone-at-the-top and gift policies, to Q&As with (and lessons from) chief ethics officers. Don't forget to access ethics and compliance templates, checklists and questionnaires in our Resource Exchange. The list below shows the most recent articles first.

Cracking the Code: Codes of Conduct That Actually Work

May 07, 2013

Nearly every company has a code of conduct. At some it's a commonly cited guide to behavior at the organization. At others, it gets more use as a beverage coaster. The difference may lie in how the document is crafted. Codes of conduct that are too long, use legalese, or are short on examples are more likely to gather coffee rings than to spur employees to uphold company values. More details inside.
 

Creating a Speak-Up Culture

April 02, 2013

Creating a speak-up culture is the Holy Grail of compliance. Companies that have successfully created this type of environment have won the trust and confidence of employees and have gotten them to buy-in to the company's values. Inside, guest columnist Joel Katz, chief ethics and compliance officer at CA Technologies, shares his perspective on how to get employees to create a culture where employees are comfortable asking questions and raising concerns.
 

Codes of Conduct: Values or Principles-Based?

November 06, 2012

Many companies are reviewing their codes of conduct to consider new regulatory risks and other developments like social media and privacy concerns. But a debate is brewing over how much to include in the code of conduct. Should they address a few core principles—Boeing's code runs just one page—or should they cite chapter and verse on policies and rules? Pros and cons of each approach inside.
 

Study Finds Rising Level of Misconduct at Large Companies

August 07, 2012

A new survey by the Ethics Resource Center of ethics at U.S. Fortune 500 companies holds good news and bad news for compliance officers: Employees are more willing than ever to report wrongdoing, but levels of misconduct and whistleblower retaliation remain high. Also among the top findings, just 1 percent of employees made their first report to the government or other outside authority. More results inside.
 

Taking the Snooze Factor Out of Corporate Ethics Training

December 06, 2011

Mention ethics training and one word usually comes to mind—boring. Now some companies are trying to liven it up with lots of humor and a little pizzazz. They are creating their own funny videos or bringing in comedy troupes to add spark to training. And employees are giving two thumbs up. Inside, more on how companies are spicing up compliance and ethics training.
 

Board Checklist: What Every Director Should Know

November 01, 2011

An increase in regulatory enforcement actions and attention to corporate governance issues is driving closer interaction between general counsels and board members. Recently, a panel of GCs discussed some practical ways to keep directors informed and offered a checklist of questions every board member should consider. More details inside.
 

Building Ethics Into the Compliance Program

June 01, 2011

Compliance officers and ethics experts at CW 2011 discussed techniques for building a solid ethics platform as the foundation of an effective compliance program. They also examined methods for measuring ethical behavior, including the use of surveys, and for aligning the ethics program with identified risks. More details inside.
 

Facebook Firing Tests Social Media Policies

November 23, 2010

Employers struggling with how to handle workplace use of social media have a new worry: Your social media policy may violate federal labor laws.
 

When Non-Conformity Enhances Compliance

Frishkorn, Guest Columnist David April 20, 2010

My company has an office located on a small, serene New England lake, and the lake is ringed with a well-maintained asphalt trail. While visiting there on a recent spring day, I decided to take in a brisk trek around the lake. As I approached the trail, I couldn’t help but notice that nearly all of the other strollers, joggers, and dog-walkers were going about their business in a clockwise manner. For whatever reason, I decided to take the road less traveled by: I stepped onto the trail and deliberately began walking in a rebellious, counter-clockwise direction.
 

Questions Arise on Timely Ethics Disclosures

January 26, 2010

Almost a decade after Enron’s implosion, some public companies appear to be dodging required ethics disclosures intended to prevent the sort of insider dealings that helped bring down the legendary energy company, according to a new academic analysis.
 

Study Finds Good News on Ethical Attitudes

December 22, 2009

Maybe the down economy has a silver lining after all: Employees behave better in times of a recession.
 

Conducting Ethical Corporate Investigations

October 27, 2009

Anyone looking for a step-by-step approach to conducting lawful corporate investigations can steal some ideas from the Association of Corporate Counsel.
 

Facilitation Payments Still Leave Companies Vexed

October 20, 2009

As anti-bribery enforcement goes increasingly global, some companies are opting to ban facilitation payments entirely to avoid the tricky compliance issues they pose.
 

How Companies Are Coping With Social Media

October 06, 2009

While the use of online social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube has exploded, the adoption of policies governing the use of those tools by the workforce is still lagging.
 

Webcast Marks Best Practices for Ethics & Compliance

July 07, 2009

Amid sinking employee morale and increasing public distrust in corporate leadership, without question maintaining an effective ethics and compliance program is more important than ever. The challenge facing many ethics and compliance professionals is how to do that with tighter budgets and fewer resources.
 

The Compliance Challenges of Social Media

June 30, 2009

If your company doesn’t yet have a formal corporate policy on the use of online social media sites, you’re not alone. That said, there are at least three reasons why you should put one in place, pronto: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
 

Retaining Ethical Cultures During a Weak Economy

June 30, 2009

Editor’s note: Harvey Pitt recently provided a keynote address at Compliance Week’s 4th annual conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., June 3-5. Below is an abridged version of the text of the speech.
 

Study: Fraud Complaints Filling Hotline Calls

June 23, 2009

If you feel like you’ve been busier than usual lately fielding complaints on the company hotline and investigating reports of employee wrongdoing, you’re not alone.
 

Whistleblower Policy a Necessity During Weak Economy

June 09, 2009

Tips, strategies, and frustrations about how to manage compliance programs more effectively were the dominant theme at Compliance Week 2009, as corporate compliance officers everywhere voiced concerns about the increasing risks their departments must manage—with ever-tighter budgets.
 

Enforcing Employee Ethics in Online Social Networks Era

May 27, 2009

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about a conversation I had with a manager from a community credit union. His staff included many enthusiastic and energetic young employees. They enjoyed each other’s company at the office and often socialized outside of work. And sometimes their socializing got a little out of hand.
 

10 Ways to Derail Your Hotline Performance

Boehme Donna May 05, 2009

Every once in awhile I see something happening at a company that surprises me—in a good way—about its corporate approach to compliance and culture.
 

Doing the Right Thing, Even When It’s Costly

April 28, 2009

As everyone reading these words knows, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 to improve transparency and accountability in business processes and financial reporting. The intent was to increase confidence in public markets. Section 404 of SOX outlined the requirements for senior management at publicly traded companies to assess the effectiveness of internal controls, and for an attestation by their external auditors on that assessment.
 

When Do Family Ties Equal Insider Trading?

MacPhail Michael April 28, 2009

At the request of subscribers, Compliance Week offers a Remediation Center, in which readers can submit questions—anonymously—to securities and accounting experts. Compliance Week’s editors will review all questions and then submit them—confidentially, of course—to specialists who can address the issues. The questions and responses will then be reprinted in a future edition of Compliance Week. Below is one of the Q&As; ask your own questions by clicking here.
 

Updating Your Gift & Entertainment Policy

April 14, 2009

It’s 2009. Do you know where your gift and entertainment policies are?
 

Making the Best of a Bad Situation

March 31, 2009

Among the many, many tales of ethical lapses at Enron, one of the more poignant and painful episodes involved an employee meeting that happened just before the company fell to pieces in late 2001.
 

Tips for Mitigating Whistleblower Risk

Lopez, Compliance Week Guest Columnist Frank March 03, 2009

Whistleblower claims can present substantial risk to a business. Generally, whistleblower protection laws are designed to protect those who report misconduct that implicates some matter of societal interest. The various state and federal whistleblower protection laws cover a wide range of subjects, literally from “a” (airline safety) to “z” (zoo animal abuse). In the corporate environment, Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act protects from reprisal individuals who report fraud that affects shareholders; any party that retaliates against a whistleblower can face significant sanctions.
 

Corp. Culture: Who Failed, Who Got It Right

February 18, 2009

The concept of corporate culture is difficult to get one’s arms around. We know it exists within every organization, although trying to identify or define it is challenging. That notwithstanding, executives who have been through the “wars” know well that shaping a company and its people to the desired culture plays a major role in how the organization is run and how successful it will be.
 

The 2009 Global Integrity Survey

January 06, 2009

Compliance Week and Integrity Interactive are preparing a major global survey of concerns about corporate integrity, to be conducted early this year. The survey will explore how multinational companies structure their compliance and integrity programs, with a particular focus on monitoring and reporting possible infractions. The survey will also address key global compliance risks across multiple industries and geographic regions.
 

When the C-Suite Circumvents the Code of Conduct

Harned, Guest Columnist Patricia December 02, 2008

Dear Pat,
 

Fraud Prevention: Stop the Fraudster Before He Acts!

Mitchell Scott October 28, 2008

It is critical to recognize that fraud risk is not exclusively about the “good guys” catching “bad guys.” Given the right (wrong) circumstances, even the best people can do some of the worst things. In light of that, an organization should approach fraud risk in a comprehensive manner so that the business does not put any individual in a position where they will be tempted to do something that they would not normally do—as well as rigorously prevent, detect, and respond to the “bad guys” where they exist.
 

A Moral Compass to Guide Today’s Innovators

September 23, 2008

From the printing press to the atomic bomb and stem cell research, innovation throughout the centuries has rarely developed without a great deal of social upheaval coming along.
 

SEC Pays Up! Fair Funds Doled Out to Investors

September 09, 2008

A little known office established just six months ago within the Securities and Exchange Commission seems to have hit its stride this summer, producing tangible results for investors and possibly signaling the end of six years of frustration for the SEC.
 

OMG! Will SEC’s Rumor Crackdown Actually Work?

T. Carton Bruce August 12, 2008

The manipulation of securities prices has been illegal under federal securities law for more than 70 years. Surprisingly, however, the Securities and Exchange Commission had never brought an enforcement action alleging market manipulation through the intentional spreading of false rumors until this past April.
 

Worried About FCPA? Don’t Mention It

Carlson Caron August 05, 2008

What is the best way to convince foreign nationals to agree to a corporate policy on complying with a U.S. law? In some cases, don’t mention the law.
 

Solving an FCPA Ethical Dilemma

July 15, 2008

The following letter is in regard to the ethical dilemma of doing right vs. being right:
 

Take a Memo: Ethics and Giving Credit

June 10, 2008

I first heard the story on the radio: Merck, the pharmaceutical giant, had ghostwritten a number of research studies about a best-selling drug that, not coincidentally, Merck had developed. Prestigious doctors had then signed on as authors of the reports for publication in medical journals.
 

A New Guide to the Sentencing Guidelines

Bonime-Blanc Andrea June 03, 2008

For years—essentially since the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines were first enacted in 1991—companies have been left pretty much to their own devices to figure out how to develop effective ethics and compliance programs that live up to (or go beyond) what the Sentencing Guidelines require.
 

Litigating Human Rights in Modern Times

June 03, 2008

There are a million reasons why companies should worry about who they do business with. Increasingly, an obscure law from the birth of the United States is one of them.
 

Of Ethics, Eliot Spitzer, and Speaking Truth

April 15, 2008

He was the sheriff of Wall Street, a rising star whom some believed might eventually occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Beyond Wall Street, he wanted to change the ethics of New York State and perhaps the nation as a whole. But his own ethical decisions paved the way for his political demise and his disgraced exit from the Statehouse in Albany, N.Y., long before the White House became a reality.
 

Eight Essentials for a Global Code of Conduct

Bonime-Blanc Andrea March 11, 2008

With corporate scandals continuing unabated and hitting the headlines daily (the U.S. sub-prime mortgage crisis, Siemens’ bribery probe, Societe Generale’s rogue trader, to name a few), more and more organizations—whether corporate, non-profit, academic, or governmental—are adopting global codes of conduct for their employees, executives, agents, partners, and vendors. And these global codes are not necessarily being used as organizational wallpaper like they might have in the past.
 

Giving Credit for Good Ethical Behavior

March 11, 2008

A letter came to me from a reader not long ago, and I have to admit that her question gave me pause. (I’ve kept the author anonymous.)
 

Ethical Challenges in an Economic Slowdown

February 12, 2008

Rising numbers of mortgage defaults, growing business inventories, declining consumer confidence, falling interest rates, and roller-coaster trading sessions—without question, few economic indicators are heading in the right direction these days. Regardless of the terminology we will ultimately use to define this period in our economic development, it also doesn’t appear that the situation is going to change anytime soon.
 

Boosting Hotline, Antifraud Effectiveness

January 02, 2008

Picture the scene: It’s the end of the quarter, and your compliance report is due for inclusion in the board materials. You and your staff have been busy crunching the numbers; so far they’re looking pretty good. The board is going to be pleased, you say to yourself. Fewer helpline calls this quarter. Theft numbers are also lower.
 

The Teachable Moments of Ethical Dilemmas

November 13, 2007

The phone rings; it’s a call to the compliance helpline. You greet your caller, and you are pleased to meet a well-spoken and seemingly responsible employee. She proceeds to tell you her problem.
 

Different Approaches to Ethics in U.S., EU, Japan, China

Dunn Christine November 13, 2007

When it comes to corporate ethics, technology may again be playing an important role in leveling the playing field, and helping to create more consistent policies and standards in companies across the globe.
 

Backdating Cases to Close Without Enforcement Action

Taub Stephen November 06, 2007

A top Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement official tells Compliance Week the regulator will likely close out a large number of its options backdating cases in the near future without taking any enforcement action
 

Lawyers Fume Over EU Attorney-Client Privilege Decision

Judd Elizabeth November 06, 2007

If in-house counsel advise their coworkers based anywhere in the European Union on a competition matter, the conversations, e-mails, and documents aren’t protected by attorney-client privilege, according to a controversial decision handed down on September 17, 2007. General counsel across Europe roundly condemned Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd. v. Commission, which found that attorney-client privilege in antitrust cases occurring within the 27 European Union member states can only be claimed by attorneys who’ve passed the bar in an EU country and are affiliated with a law firm.
 

Abuse of Sick Leave: An Ethical Malady?

October 10, 2007

Picture the scene: You arrive home late from work, again. You’re exhausted and searching for something to eat when the phone rings. A very excited friend blurts out: “I've got two free tickets right behind home plate at the game tomorrow afternoon! Come on, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!” You say yes right away, thinking that you’ll figure something out with the office.
 

Editorial: How I Learned To Take IFRS Seriously, And Why You Should Too

September 01, 2007

I got scolded by the SEC’s John White once. Seriously: I got a verbal slapdown from a regulator—and I think I deserved it.
 

Backdating Conviction Sets Unsettling Tone

August 21, 2007

The first criminal conviction of a corporate executive over backdated stock options has Corporate America buzzing about what the government’s victory bodes for the many, many other companies embroiled in the backdating mess.
 
 Subscribe to the RSS for this page  [view all our RSS feeds here]

Compliance Week LinkedIn Group

Compliance Week now has a companion group on LinkedIn, where members can network and discuss the compliance and governance news of the day. Open to all compliance professionals, free to join.

Events of the Week

Addressing the Challenges of Solvency II Pillars 2 and 3
Sponsored by IBM

Information Governance: Managing the Lifecycle of Data
Sponsored by HP Autonomy

Who's Minding the Files? Managing the File Transfer Explosion
Sponsored by IBM

e-Books

Getting It In Writing: The Art of Policy Management
Sponsored by NAVEX Global

Information Governance: Managing the Lifecycle of Data
Sponsored by HP Autonomy

Anti-Money Laundering Illustrated: Visualizing an Effective Capability
Sponsored by OCEG

Thought Leadership

What Does an Effective Customer Risk Assessment Program Look Like?
Sponsored by OCEG

Getting Ready for the Physician Payment 'Sunshine' Rule
Sponsored by Bloomberg BNA

New Compliance Week and Kroll Benchmarking Report on Anti-Bribery & Corruption
Sponsored by Kroll

Strategies for Aligning GRC with Business Priorities
Sponsored by EMC

Upcoming Webcasts

Strengthening Controls in 2013, Part 3: Purchase-to-Pay Cycle
Sponsored by ACL

Evolution of Compliance: 2013 State of Compliance Survey Results
Sponsored by PwC

Compliance Week Podcasts ...

Every week we chat with leading thinkers in compliance, auditing, risk management, public policy and more. These short (10-15 minutes) interviews are free to all. Follow Compliance Week podcasts on iTunes.