Business Ethics

Business ethics is a topic covering the practices that corporations adhere to, to establish an ethical, fair and desirable business or service. Due to recent corporate scandals - namely that of Enron and Tyco, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has set forth new standards and procedures that intensify the punishment of corrupt and illegal business activities; including but not limited to dishonest accounting practices, dishonesty in reporting procedures, unethical treatment of employees, and abuse of one's title or position within the company.

To establish an ethical culture within a company, it typically must begin by creating a code of conduct, or a set of rules and regulations that are in the beliefs and best interest of the company, that all employees and associates must agree to. The code of conduct outlines the rules and responsibilites of employees, including that of management. Ethical codes further state the regulatory measures taken within a company, and iron-out what behavior is deemed un-ethical within the workplace.

Business ethics training involves the processes and procedures that a corporation engages in to ensure that its internal structure is behaving legally and ethically.Training typically includes sessions that teach about corporate culture and values, ethical behavior and treatment of potentially adverse office situations, proper reporting, accounting and auditing procedures, and other such topics. Most larger corporations have an annual ethics training plan.

The importance of business ethics in general is to continually maintain corporate integrity and satisfactory stature in the public's eyes. It creates a uniform business method that is utilized by all departments and their workers, across the entire company. Additionally, it minimizes risk: including legal action, lawsuits, whistleblowing, and other potentially harmful consequences.

Business ethics provides employees with information and skills that promote communication and sound ethical decision-making. Business ethics training professionals are in a key role to help improve communication and understanding about ethics in business across the world, as its training is quickly becoming an obligatory profess. Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline.

Business ethics set the new standard in regard to the way business is conducted in today's workplace. Yesterday's 'management horror stories' concerning sexual harassment, discrimination and reporting violations are today's criminal and federal offenses. Business ethics defines the culture of your company, and how it operates both inside the office walls, and within the marketplace. Business ethics provides a compliant framework that governs the organization, and all of its constituents from the board of directors down to the subordinates.

The many branches of traditional business each carry their own set of potential ethical risks. For instance, business ethics in accounting involves proper recording, financial analysis, record-keeping, compensation records, signed documents, and other hard copy and/or digital mediums needed to prove and keep records of a company's financial information for potential auditing purposes. By contrast, business ethics in production concerns a proper and safe production outcome: production efforts must not create an environmental or health hazard, they must conform to safety standards, and must adhere to governmental restrictions and regulations. Business ethics in sales ensures that all processes within the realm of sales and marketing does not implement illegal activities such as price fixing, false advertsing, morally damaging or harassing sales and marketing campaigns, anti-competitive practices - as well as libel and slander, marketing to children, subliminal advertising, and other sensitive scenarios.

Few associations exist in this very new aspect of the corporate world. Ethics associations exist to help organize and develop proper business ethics training practices in today's corporations. They typically oversee annual trade shows and exhibitions, and hold conferences for business professionals and ethics training companies.

The Society of Corporate Compliance (SCCE) is an ethics association that assists in the development and implementation of proper ethics training and corporate governance programs in organizations throughout the world. It holds an annual meeting in mid-September named "CCEP: Certified Compliance & Ethics Professionals," that invites guest speakers of which are experts in the business ethics field, to speak on topics concerning present and future trends in the ethics world.

The Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA) is a member-driven organization that specifically exists for individuals of whom are responsible for their company's ethics training program (also known as an Ethics Officer). This non-profit organization's network of members shares information and guidance through the organization's website, and its annual conference, each September.

The Society for Business Ethics (SBE) is an organization of business ethics scholars who collaborate to discuss research findings and headlines in the world of business ethics. Their signature publication is the Business Ethics Quarterly magazine, which reviews relevant business ethics topics and resources. The SBE also conducts an annual conference.

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