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Really?
I got onto this bandwagon 4-5 years ago as environmental policies were hijacked by wider CSR policies and received a lot of blank faces from all the SMEs I spoke to along the lines of, "we don't have to publish a policy statement announcing our intention to trade legally so why do we have to do the same over our ethical policies?"
Perhaps it would be more effective if we asked all those businesses who intended to act unethically, to come clean and tell us?
I am passionate about ethical behaviour, shared values and social responsibility in business but the moment you try to codify what are, at the end of the day, human characteristics, the moment you dilute them with the inevitable result that the majority of businesses will just cut & paste wheat the business next door put on their website.
Sorry JAADAMS, I disagree
... Not about being ethical but having endless policies for things that we should know to do anyway.
The trouble with these sorts of policies is that whilst they sound good, they make absolutely no difference in the real world. The only time these sorts of things ever get read is at induction, along with umpteen other policies ... and then quickly forgotten.
With small businesses, ethics revolve around the personal ethics of the business owner(s). The business owner's ethical view on things tends to become apparent in the way they do things, not some artificial policy.
With larger businesses (with external shareholders) the main driver is usually growth and profits. I view any ethical, environmental policies, social responsibility policies, sustainability policies that they may have as just marketing bluster. It's good for business to say this stuff and follow it to the extent of staying on the right side of the law, but rarely followed beyond that.
Perhaps the
Government and HMRC should have one......................then stick to it. Nothing but PR.
It's worse than that
Government and HMRC should have one......................then stick to it. Nothing but PR.
HMRC don't just have an ethics policy. They have an ethics and responsibilities committee.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/groups/et...
Proof (if needed) that these things are meaningless PR.
Mmmmm
Are ethical policies suitable for Accountants, well not for the ones I have worked for anyway. What next.... they will be asking Lawyers to have them.
I agree with the comment above you are either ethical or you are not, no need for a policy.
@Romanista
Over several thousand years, what start out as ethical principals adopted and accepted by the majority, become laws imposed on all.
A few years back on here, there would have been a general outcry about imposing an ethical outlook on any form of tax avoidance, this is not the case today.
Paul Scholes
An ethical code only works if the people who are governed by it believe in it and adhere to it. Many people appear to use ethical codes as a cloak of respectability if the number of fraud cases in the past involving accountants and solicitors are anything to go by.
By way of analogy, you are obviously a football fan going by your online name, so you will know that despite an ethical code covering racism and sexism in football those two prejudices survive in almost in tact in that sport. You can change what people say in public but not what they believe and act upon.
I have found a wide diversity of opinion amongst practitioners on what constitutes evasion and what constitutes avoidance over the years. Some people seem to pick and choose which parts of the code they believe in and want to adhere to and which parts their conscience allows them to ignore. Much like any "believers" in any code.
@ Paul
it's called human nature, Paul. It's the animal instinct in us. Law, ethics, religion, it's all the same. You either believe or you don't. However, as long as it doesn't affect anyone else I see no reason why you can't pick and choose the codes that fit in with your thinking.
The migrant crisis in Greece is a classic example of ethics. Should they be turned away or should we embrace them. There can be no half measures with this one. However a business can change it's code of ethics according to changes of environment. Financial institutions regularly change their code of conduct. They even say that they can change it at anytime. So therefore it is meaningless. Going on from that, for ethics read common sense.
Bullshine
I'm with Romanista on this one. At best pompous statements of ethical policies sound like Milliband's late and unlamented tombstone.
Romanista & John
Yes, to all you say (see my first post) I was only commenting on R's comment about imposing ethics on others, one-liners can be interpreted in many ways.
By the way R, this is both my online & real name, and no, I am not a footie fan, I grew up being taken to West Ham by my Dad in the 60s, so your comments ring true. I am optimistic though, I went to a game there last year and the atmosphere was a world away but yes, some areas of society hang on to unacceptable behaviour, but many, if challenged, may not actually believe what they shout, the rest of society having changed the tide, for the next generation.
Paul Scholes
Paul
My wife says that I am not a football fan either. I regularly go to see a team in the bottom professional league in Scotland and having seen them play once she decided that it bore no resemblance to football. Difficult to argue with her sometimes.
Back on subject, there is a n interesting article on the government's proposals to reform IR35 in this week's Taxation magazine. HMRC introduced IR35 hoping that the profession would do its work for it and make sure that it worked. It is largely ignored by taxpayers and professionals alike. Professionals ignoring legislation a it applies to their clients? Surely not!