Contained in this category are any whitepapers or working group reports that the Ethics & Compliance Initiative helped to create.

Blue Ribbon Panel: Principles and Practices of High-Quality Ethics & Compliance Programs

Ethics and compliance (E&C) has become an identifiable function in many organizations today. In some cases, E&C programs are born out of necessity in the aftermath of wrongdoing. In many other instances, programs arise from an organizations voluntary investment in the strategic goal of conducting business with integrity. Regardless of why they were created, E&C programs by their very nature play an important role in the viability and ongoing success of any institution. The size, scope and structure of an E&C program vary with the makeup of an organization. A program in a large, publicly traded multinational looks altogether different from an effort in a small, privately held business. Even more different are E&C programs in nonprofit and government entities. Nonetheless, the fundamental purpose of the function is almost universal. An organizational ethics and compliance program exists to: • Ensure and sustain integrity in the organizations performance and its reputation as a responsible business. • Reduce the risk of wrongdoing by parties employed by or aligned with the organization. • Increase the likelihood that, when it occurs, wrongdoing will be made known to management within the organization. • Increase the likelihood that the organization will responsibly handle suspected and substantiated wrongdoing.

2025-04-21T18:06:18-04:00Friday, April 22, 2016|
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Conflicts of Interest

This report presents the best thinking on managing conflicts from a group of experienced E&C professionals from a variety of industries and organizations. It also includes results from a targeted survey of the full ECI membership (?the Survey?). Our focus is on identifying best practices and accompanying risks, as a guide to practitioners. In addition to the body of the report, we have put together an appendix with sample policy provisions and documents from leading organizations. The report is organized into four sections: 1. Defining Conflicts, 2. Preventing Conflicts, 3. Identifying Conflicts, and 4. Dealing with Conflicts. Each section touches on aspects of the others, so the report should be read as a whole.

2024-03-21T01:05:45-04:00Friday, April 22, 2016|
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Non-Retaliation Policy Considerations

The ERC Fellows Program formed a working group to assess the many ways in which companies combat workplace retaliation and to share leading practices we identified during our assessment with the ethics and compliance community. Our first offering to the field consists of observations and considerations for companies to consider when developing or revising a non-retaliation policy. The working group reviewed, discussed, and evaluated the characteristics of publicly available non-retaliation policies as well as a sampling of non-retaliation policies of our member organizations. We also conducted a review of the ethics & compliance literature on retaliation. The working group recognizes that policy content and level of detail will vary for each organization depending upon its culture, industry, and internal processes. We therefore offer organizations questions to consider when drafting or revising content for a non-retaliation policy rather than prescribing specific policy elements to adopt.

2024-03-22T14:10:12-04:00Tuesday, June 4, 2013|
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Leading Corporate Integrity: Defining the Role of the Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer

Senior corporate executives are under great pressure to build and maintain strong organizational ethics programs. The stakes are high for any organization that fails to make ethics a priority and then finds itself embroiled in scandal. Public perceptions?often driven by the media?spoil a company?s reputation and weaken its brand value. Lowered trust among investors can devastate a company?s ability to attract support for growth. Regulators and lawmakers may move swiftly to punish and/or further regulate those who step outside accepted ethical boundaries. Today, many organizations are choosing to consolidate the critical responsibility for ethics and compliance programs under a chief ethics and compliance officer (CECO). But the specific roles and reporting lines for this relative newcomer among corporate management positions are not always clearly defined; many CECOs report feeling set up for failure due to insufficient authority or inadequate resources. This paper is intended to serve as the starting point for a dialogue within corporate management circles? particularly among CEOs, boards of directors and the CECOs themselves?about the proper placement, qualifications, and responsibilities for a leader of the corporate ethics and compliance function.

2024-03-22T14:11:10-04:00Friday, June 4, 2010|
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Reducing Perceived Pressure to Behave Unethically: The Role of Leaders and Coworkers

Using data from the 2004/2005 industry sector survey, the research team examined the extent to which perceived pressure to behave unethically was linked to actions on the part of top managers, supervisors and coworkers, and the relative impact of these employee groups on perceived pressure to behave unethically. The analyses uncovered the following insights which will help guide individuals responsible for shaping the ethics-related environments within organizations.

2024-03-22T14:11:27-04:00Wednesday, June 4, 2008|
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