Training Courses

ETH100: Assessing Organizational and Individual Ethics: A Value-Added Audit

CPE credits: 7

Description: The continuing influence and impact which personal and professional ethics exerts upon individuals, organizations and society, and the factors which influence organizational ethics, has been thrust into the headlines of the American populous. The ethical issues faced daily by organizations and their employees are neither always straightforward nor easy to resolve. Results of unethical behavior by accounting/audit professionals, and the impact of ethics upon organizations, is a topic of growing concern in corporate board rooms around the world. This seminar will examine the timely and important topic of ethics and its relevance and importance to overall corporate wellbeing. In particular, what factors influence the likelihood that an individual will act ethically or less than ethical, and what this means to management, the organization, and internal controls in general.

Audience: This seminar is intended for anyone charged with designing or implementing processes aimed at creating organizational change and who needs to understand the impact that ethical business practices have on organizational behavior, culture, and business practices, individuals responsible for assessing their organization's values, ethic programs, training, policies and procedures or have an impact on their organization's expectations or standards for ethical employee behavior. Professionals who may also be interested in this seminar include; internal and external auditors, General Counsels, Chief Information Officers, Chief Security Officers, Controllers, Chief Privacy Officers, Corporate Ethic Officers, Human Relations professionals charged with developing and implementing corporate ethic programs, and any individual who wishes to learn how to assess ethical practices (or shortcomings) within workplace environments.

Prerequisites: There is no prerequisite for this seminar.

Objectives: After completing this seminar, participants will be able to:

Apply systems theory and understand the interrelated nature of organizational functions and components as they relate to establishing an ethically compliant organization
Identify the role of organizational values in driving strategic goals and objectives
Discover the role that personal values play in driving individual employee choices and decisions
Develop an ethics assessment tool designed to evaluate an organization's compliance to stated ethics policies
Pinpoint the underlying causes of patterns of unethical and/or undesired employee behavior
Reduce the incidence of employee conflict between the intended change and their personal ethical standards and expectations
Increase employee commitment to organizational goals and objectives

Course Outline:

What is Ethics?

Ethical Issues Facing Employees
Ethics vs. Morality
Business Ethics: The Key Issues

What is Judgment?

Examining Judgment
The Many Forms of Unethical Behavior
A Framework for Judgment
General Ethic Questions all Professionals Should Ask

Foundations in Our Codes of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing
Questioning Professional Responsibility & Ethical Conduct
Establishing Ethics Policies

Corporate Ethics Programs

Ethics Issues from Industry
Unethical Business Practices: A Time Line
The Many Flavors of Corporate Ethics Programs

Ethics Auditing

Internal Danger Signs of Organizations at Ethical Risk
Ethical Hazards Related to Groupthink
The Ethics Audit

Can Ethics Be Taught?

Ethics in Practice
What the Studies Say
ETHICS 101

Ethics and Auditor Judgment - Research Results

Judgment-of-Others
Probability-of-One’s-Own-Behavior

Dr. Marcella's seminar is based on findings from his book, Assessing Organizational and Individual Ethics: A Value-Added Audit, published by the Institute of Internal Auditors.

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