Press Releases

Governments at All Levels Show High Rates of Misconduct; "Next Enron" Could Be in Public Sector, ERC Survey Finds
With employees at all levels of government witnessing a high incidence of ethical misconduct – and with many local and state entities, particularly, failing to establish strong ethics programs – the public sector is at considerable risk of seeing major ethics scandals unfold, the Ethics Resource Center's National Government Ethics Survey (NGES) shows.

Ethics Risk Landscape Just As Treacherous
Washington, D.C., November 28, 2007 – Six years after high-profile corporate scandals rocked American business, there has been little if any meaningful reduction in the enterprise-wide risk of unethical behavior at U.S. companies, according to the Ethics Resource Center's 2007 National Business Ethics Survey®.  ERC is a private, nonprofit organization whose research and advocacy focus on the advancement of high ethical standards and practices in public and private institutions.

Labor Day Ethics Check

Washington, D.C., August 31, 2007 – A survey this summer of employees at America's public, private and non-profit institutions shows more than a third know co-workers who have called in sick when they actually were not ill, and more than a quarter have seen colleagues take credit for others' achievements in the workplace. In both cases, government workers were most likely to witness such behavior. 

Empowered Ethics and Compliance Officers Necessary for Culture of Integrity
Washington, D.C., August 13, 2007 — An executive position of Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer (CECO) with broad authority, access to the Chief Executive and the board, and sufficient financial and other resources is a crucial element in the successful development and nurturing of an ethical culture in organizations, according to a report developed by representatives of five leading non-profit ethics organizations.

Five Years after Sarbanes-Oxley, ERC Study Shows Most Employees Give Publicly Traded Companies High Marks for Ethics
Almost 70 percent of employees at publicly traded U.S. companies – those under the purview of the five-year-old Sarbanes-Oxley Act – give their employers an "A" or "B" grade for encouraging ethical conduct, according to a new survey by the Ethics Resource Center (ERC).   However, the survey found that roughly one in seven give their employers a below-average grade or failing grade, with the lowest marks most likely at companies with fewer than 100 employees.