Recent corporate financial scandals have highlighted the importance of business ethics and legal compliance. However, a recent National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) survey of 280 CEOs and corporate directors found that “only one in three directors felt they were very effective at ensuring legal compliance.”
Ethics in business
Most companies realize that they need to develop and implement a business ethics and compliance program.
An effective program can:
o Establish a code of conduct that reduces the risk of criminal conduct
o Detect irregularities, promote prompt investigations, minimize consequences
o Demonstrate the company’s ethical/legal philosophy during an investigation
o Reduce fines if the company is found guilty of irregularities
o Enhance the reputation and stature of the company
Looking at the options
But how do you build an effective program? Companies are faced with three options to build the program:
o Develop internally from scratch
o Hire an external consultant
o Use a pre-written manual
And most of these companies learn some lessons, sometimes the hard way.
Make a solid company policy
Building a program from scratch can be time consuming and expensive. Also, the company may not have the knowledge or understanding of the complexity involved. But hiring an external consultant is also not always a profitable option. So what’s left?
Developing Your Business Ethics Program
By using a template or pre-written manual, many companies have found it easier to develop their business ethics program. And for that, they look for what a strong program needs.
A highly effective tool for creating, organizing, and implementing a strong business ethics and compliance program should provide:
o Examples of policies and procedures
o Step-by-step instructions for developing a program
o An outline of the business ethics training program with classroom materials and a detailed guide for the session leader.
o Business Ethics and Compliance Officer Job Description
o Templates for employee engagement
o Sample code of conduct
Implementation of your business ethics program
If the company’s board has committed to a strong business ethics and compliance program, the next step is to put the manual in the hands of the corporate executives responsible for implementation. Used properly under the guidance of legal counsel, this efficient tool will produce a robust program that the board can understand, support, and monitor for effectiveness.
With step-by-step guidelines and attached examples of policies, procedures, training programs, and employee surveys, an effective tool provides an excellent roadmap for implementing an ethics and compliance initiative.
Maintain a culture of ethics
Companies should ensure that their ethics compliance manual provides fully editable MS Word files with sample policies, surveys, forms, and training session outlines. In addition, companies should ensure that the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) fully endorses their ethics compliance system manual as a tool for maintaining a culture of integrity.
