FRFraud and corruption have long been problem areas for businesses in the extractive sector. As our introductory speaker, Robert Welch from Kazakhmys pointed out, the industry is an easy target. It is labour-intensive, involving high-value commodities, is often based in remote parts of the world with high levels of inherent corruption and requires permits and…
Category Archives: Business Ethics Debates
David Green CB QC, Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), was invited to lead GoodCorporation’s Autumn Business Ethics Debate on the subject of ‘Prosecution and Enforcement of the UK Bribery Act’. He began by talking about guidance and guarantees, stating that it would be wrong for a prosecutor to give any form of guarantee…
Our business ethics debate opened with the suggestion that on a scale of 0-100, where 100 is the worst; business ethics are closer to 100 than zero. But are business ethics getting worse or better? Business ethics had reached its nadir in the mid noughties, it was argued, but was now starting to improve. Giving…
Anti-corruption due diligence is proving to be one of the most challenging areas of Bribery Act compliance. In this debate, GoodCorporation led the discussion with an assessment of anti-corruption due diligence practices and the problems businesses are facing in order to demonstrate adequate procedures. Leo Martin, director of GoodCorporation, introduced the topic by stating that…
Anti-corruption Due Diligence GoodCorporation began the first Business Ethics Debate of 2013 with an assessment of anti-corruption due diligence and the problems businesses are facing in ensuring compliance with the UK Bribery Act in this area. Leo Martin, director of GoodCorporation introduced the topic by stating that ensuring adequate due diligence appears to be the…
The debate began with a board-level view stating that in the past five years the issue of business ethics has risen rapidly up the corporate agenda. Two reasons were given for this: the passing of the UK Bribery Act in 2011 and the increasing globalisation of business. For many companies, it was suggested, ethics has…
Before taking a closer look at the ethical challenges, GoodCoporation’s Business Ethics Debate began with a summary of some of the key issues facing the defence sector. It is a shrinking market. Growth will only come by moving into new countries, with all the governance challenges that this entails. There is consolidation and intense competition…
GoodCorporation’s second Business Ethics Debate to be held in Paris looked at whether or not business ethics can be said to add value to an organisation, or is it simply another cost that must be borne? In the introduction to the debate, it was suggested that those working in the fields of ethics and compliance…
When the Bribery Act became law last summer, it represented the first major change to UK anti-corruption legislation in over a century. Since it came on to the statute books it has been the focus of considerable management attention as businesses endeavour to ensure that adequate procedures are in place to prevent corruption. GoodCorporation invited…
Introduction: Due diligence is proving to be one of the more challenging areas of Anti-Corruption management. Both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) have required businesses to focus their attention in this area. In 2011, every FCPA / SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) investigation involved the payment of…
