Financial Reporting and Ethics - The Institute of Chartered ...

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN ETHICScorporate social responsibility and have its actions reflected inthose policies?”(c)(d)(e)BenchmarkingPertains to how the corporation’s behaviour compares to industrynorms and industry best practices. An “Environmental scan”addresses “macro-changes in social climate, nationalism,technology, international trade policy, and other factors that couldtransform the very organisation of the business or agency understudy” (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 13, Issue 5, page77). These scans should be regularly conducted so that acorporation can adjust its policies and practices accordingly.Multi-stakeholder surveysThese should be conducted to see how significant stakeholdersview the policies and actions of the organisation because publicopinion is often most important in terms of perception of success.A combination of written questionnaires, exit interviews, personalinterviews, and other techniques are common.Action-enabling recommendationMust link the audit cycle with the planning mode of the organisation”so that the findings of the audit are not lost in the corporatebureaucracy but instead are the basis for change and improvementin the company (The Corporate Ethics Monitor, Volume 13, Issue5, page 77).An ethics audit can be an important function in improving thecompany’s corporate social responsibility policies as well as its publicethical reputation. Even if a company starts out with a small scale ethicsaudit, this is often a step in the right direction and that company shouldbe applauded and then encouraged to keep moving in the right directionto a full scale, independently-conducted, publicly disclosed,independently-verified ethics audit.12.3.2 Procedures when Conducting a Social Audit:(a)(b)(c)(d)An independent outside firm should be hired to conduct the audit.! This will ensure autonomy and objectivity.The company’s personnel should cooperate fully with the auditingfirm while the audit is being conducted.The auditing firm should report its findings directly to thecompany’s board of directors.The results of the audit should be reviewed by the company’sboard of directors.253