Corporate bosses "pay lip service" to integrity standards - EY survey
Reuters
Published Jan 12, 2022 10:28AM ET
By Kirstin Ridley
LONDON (Reuters) - Corporate leaders are prepared to pay lip service to integrity standards, overlook internal vetting processes and rationalise unethical behaviour in a battle for survival as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, a global EY report says.
In a warning to corporate legal and compliance departments, EY said 18% of board members told the survey they would mislead auditors or regulators to improve their pay or bonuses, up from 14% in a 2020 report.
In addition, 17% would ignore unethical behaviour by third parties and 15% would falsify financial records.
More than half of those quizzed for the EY 2022 Global Integrity Report said they believed standards of integrity had either stayed the same or fallen over the last 18 months.
Just over two in five said the pandemic had made it harder to do business with integrity. Authorities have long warned that the turmoil caused by COVID-19 could lead to major fraud or corruption.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on integrity standards for companies around the world," said Andrew Gordon, EY Global Forensic & Integrity Services Leader, adding remote working had raised the risk of fraud and unethical behaviour.
"Hybrid working makes it difficult to undertake effective compliance monitoring, and fraud risk factors typically increase at a time of crisis," he said.
Some 42% of surveyed board members said unethical behaviour in senior or high performers was tolerated in their organisation.
Global market research agency Ipsos MORI interviewed 4,762 board members, managers and employees in some of the largest organisations and public bodies across 54 countries between June and September 2021.
They questioned staff at industries such as financial services, manufacturing and at public sector entities. Western and eastern European respondees accounted for 49% of answers.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.