ICAEW believes its members can play acritical role in contributing towards a positive ethical culture within organisations. Alongside developing resources to support its members, ICAEW is taking an active role in discussing the key issues around ethical behaviour in the profession and more broadly.

Laura Hough, who was appointed as ICAEW’s Director of Trust and Ethics in April, describes this work as vital to the reputation of the profession and ICAEW’s vision of supporting strong economies. “Upholding ethical standards remains the cornerstone of what it means to be a professional accountant,” she says. “To fully play our role in supporting strong economies, and being equal to the challenges of a rapidly evolving world, we must maintain a solid foundation of trust in our profession, built on the highest standards of ethical conduct and behaviour.”

Mandating ethics in CPD

As part of the revision to ICAEW’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Regulations, from 1 November 2023 all ICAEW members will be required to complete at least one hour of verifiable ethics training each year. To support members in meeting this new requirement, ICAEW has partnered with the Institute of Business Ethics to create a free online course.

The Ethics CPD course focuses on the practical application of ICAEW’s code of ethics and is split into four modules. The first two modules relate to understanding the fundamental principles and ethical decision making.

The third module covers ethics for specialist roles and includes learning materials relating to audit, tax and economic crime. The final module contains a series of case studies using material from ICAEW’s award-winning training films.

The new course provides up to 12 verifiable hours of CPD and ICAEW’s learning management system will automatically recognise completion of each module and a certificate of completion will be held in your ICAEW CPD record.

Championing ethical leadership

In May, ICAEW Chief Executive Michael Izza attended an event sponsored by the Global Accounting Alliance (GAA) which focused specifically on the issue of championing ethical leadership amid competing pressures.

As a founding member of GAA, ICAEW was part of the steering group which shaped the event to explore how business leaders, regulators and professional bodies can work together to promote ethical behaviour. Topics discussed, included:

• how workplaces can create an environment of accountability;
• how leaders can balance competing pressures and make good decisions;
• what frameworks, mechanisms and policies can best hold business to account; and
• how corporate citizenship can be used to attract, retain and motivate ethical employees.

Hosted by Economist Impact, a business arm of the Economist Group, the event was attended by senior leaders from across the public and private sectors. Speakers included Elia Yi Armstrong, Director, Ethics Office at the United Nations and the European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly.

Attending the event, ICAEW Chief Executive Michael Izza said: “Fostering an ethical culture matters now more than ever. ICAEW, as part of the GAA, can leverage the reach of the profession and our extensive member networks, to promote ethical decision-making in organisations and global business generally.”

How to resist pressure to act unethically

On 15 June, David Gomez, ICAEW’s Senior Lead, Ethics, organised a free webinar on behalf of the Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (CCAB), which examined the ethical challenges and opportunities facing accountants, particularly how to remain resilient in the face of pressure to act unethically.

The last ethical survey of the UK accountancy profession undertaken by the CCAB showed that a significant proportion of respondents had felt pressurised to act unethically in the previous three years.

The webinar, which can be watched in full, included pre-recorded interviews with academics, accountants and regulators, as well as a session on speaking up. It was concluded with and a question-and-answer session with senior council members and ethics specialists from each of the five CCAB bodies (ICAEW, ACCA, CIFPA, ICAS and CAI).

The key takeaway from the webinar, according to Gomez, was that accountants can resist pressure to act unethically in two ways.

“The first is by maintaining their ethical competency,” he says. “Professional accountants must keep up to date and be familiar with the requirements set out in the code of ethics.”

The discussions confirmed that chartered accountants must be able to use the conceptual framework to assess and mitigate against threats to compliance with the five fundamental principles. They also should be familiar with a range of published tools and frameworks to help them make better ethical decisions.

“The second way accountants can resist this pressure is to, individually and collectively, make a concerted effort to change the cultures of the organisations within which, and for which, they work,” says Gomez.  “This follows part 2 of the code of ethics, which requires senior accountants to put in place measures to promote an ethical culture in their organisations.”

• Watch the webinar recording.
• Watch the pre-recorded interviews

Get ready for Global Ethics Day

Global Ethics Day this year falls on 18 October. In the lead up to the day, ICAEW will be publishing articles with an ethics focus, holding events and roundtables.

You can keep up to date with the latest ethics resources published by ICAEW, including new video resources in relation to speaking up, on ICAEW’s Trust & Ethics hub.

• Find out more about Global Ethics Day and how your organisation can participate.