Ethics & Culture

Daniel Terris first became interested in Lockheed Martin when a colleague entered his office carrying a board game called “The Ethics Challenge,” which involved characters from the popular Dilbert comic strip inserted into various ethical scenarios specific to the defense giant. Terris, who is the director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public […]

Companies need to be aware that both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice have stepped up enforcement of a federal law banning bribery of foreign officials, according to experts. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been in effect since the 1970s but only recently has it been aggressively enforced—due in part […]

Measuring the immeasurable. That’s how some consider the development of metrics and benchmarks necessary to ascertain the effectiveness of their ethics programs. But sophisticated calibration efforts increasingly are penetrating the sometimes nebulous world of ethics and compliance assessment. The advent of ethics program metrics—including measuring the ethical culture and awareness at corporations through employee surveys, […]

This article is Part Two of a two-part series on ethics programs. Last week, we spoke with ethics leaders at Sprint and other companies, who discussed the importance of “support from the top” in developing successful ethics programs (see box at right). In implementing their ethics and compliance programs, too many companies are focusing all […]

This article is Part One of a two-part series on ethics programs. Next week, we take an outsider’s view of corporate ethics programs; when it comes to corporate ethics programs, many experts fear there is too much focus on “process,” and not enough focus on results. Helplines, surveys, focus groups and employee training are great, […]

Companies may be treading dangerously by failing to coordinate the various environmental disclosures they make throughout the year, some experts tell Compliance Week. Ewing According to Kevin Ewing, a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Bracewell & Giuliani, the passage of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and other recent events have […]

Whatever your role in your company—be it director, CEO, or senior executive—you’ve undoubtedly heard a great deal about the need for your company to set the right “tone at the top.” But what is the “right” tone? Well, that’s usually easier to identify than articulate; the answer to the question is similar to the oft-paraphrased […]

Waivers to company codes of ethics have been relatively rare, and when they have been made they have generally been revealed on the corporate Web site rather than in 8-K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under SEC rules adopted in January 2003 under The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, companies are not required to […]