Ethics Code – Business Ethics Sreevardhan Alluri Student ID: 566865 BA616: Business Ethics Campbellsville University Definition: Ethics audit measures the level of the health condition of organizational ethics that asserts ethics audit improves the ethical functioning of the organization, which is regularly and periodically conducted to verify the accuracy and authenticity of the ethics report (Boshoff & Van Zyl, 2011). Summary: An audit is a systematic process that typically has planning, fieldwork using established methods, analysis, reporting, and documentation. An audit should ideally be conducted independently by personnel who have no interest in the audit report outcome (Boshoff & Van Zyl, 2011). An audit differs from usual review or monitor system as an ethics audit is a systematic, independent, and has set objectives. The objects of ethics audit are very crucial in planning the ethics system that distinguishes scopes concerning input (intention), throughput (behavior), output (consequences) (Kaptein & Muel, n.d.). This audit system represents or reflects organizational intentions and factors that encourage managers and employees to behave or work ethically. An ethics audit primarily examines the quality and efficiency of programs aimed at stimulating ethical behavior across the organization. The audit also considers various procedures, policies, and systems in place and evaluates its ability to overcome ethical challenges a company is facing (Kaptein & Muel, n.d.). Ethics audits can have many different objectives to show the importance of ethics and encouraging personnel to follow ethical practices while performing project-related tasks actively. Discussion: A company needs to have a robust ethical environment for an adequate conducive atmosphere for personnel and managers. In the United States, about 53% of respondents indicated that their company follows and audits their ethical practices within the organization in a survey conducted in 2013. There can be various methods in conducting ethics audits, and these methods can be compared or similar to those used in academic research such as surveys, review interviews, etc. Desk research is another method through which documents and websites are examined along with their data sources. A professional conducting the ethics audit is designated as an ethics auditor, and such a person should have necessary and relevant qualifications and expertise with adequate training. Several issues can challenge the ethics audits within an organization, like designing the ethics audit or time-orientation of the audit (prospective or retrospective) (Kaptein & Muel, n.d.). Whether the audits should be integrated or separated from other audits, developing the ethics programs are all the issues related to ethics audits within the organization. Ethics audit is very much relevant in today’s world in assessing the ethical environment of the organization and raises several interesting academic research topics such as (Kaptein & Muel, n.d.): The extent to which an organization uses an ethics audit as an instrument in improving the ethic environment in an organization The data collected for the audit can be used for research and academic purposes in setting up robust protocols and methods to conduct ethics audits and develop it as a discipline. The extent of usage of scientific methods in data collection and analysis is another exciting practice. Overall, an ethics audit ensures that the project is initiated, executed, completed in an ethical manner with documented records reflecting the same will improve the confidence of all the stakeholders on the success of the project. Such a practice will enhance the trust within the global market and help the company survive through ethical dilemmas and crises. Reference Siregar, H., Muda, I., & Fachrudin, K. A. (2019). The Impact of Locus of Control, Ethics Audit, Time Pressure, and Commitment to Deviant Behavior in Audit at Foreign Affiliated Public Accountants in Medan, Indonesia. 416–423. https://doi.org/10.2991/agc-18.2019.64 Kaptein, & Muel. (n.d.). Ethics Audit. Retrieved https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342523030 August 15, 2020, from
