Is this the moment of truth for corporate integrity?

Andrew Gordon
By Andrew Gordon

EY Global Forensic & Integrity Services Leader

Global Forensics Leader focusing on helping organizations build their integrity agenda so they better anticipate and mitigate risk.

7 minute read 25 Jun 2020
Related topics COVID-19 Assurance Forensics Board governance and oversight
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The EY Global Integrity Report 2020 reveals a heightened risk of unethical conduct amid the pandemic — and the critical actions to mitigate it.

This article is part of the EY Global Integrity Report 2020.

In brief
  • 90% of businesses surveyed at the height of the pandemic believe COVID-19 poses a risk to ethical conduct.
  • Companies should take action to: culturally embed corporate integrity to protect against unethical conduct; foster trusting, long-term relationships with third parties; and safeguard data.

Amid the turmoil from COVID-19 businesses, governments and individual citizens are faced with new and significant decisions that pose difficult ethical dilemmas.

From retailers deciding how best to protect their employees and customers while providing essential supplies to communities, to corporate boards assessing whether to continue paying dividends to income-dependent shareholders while claiming government relief, doing the right thing has never been harder. That’s reflected in the results of the EY Global Integrity Report 2020 (pdf), revealing insights from several thousand companies across the world — both from before the pandemic’s spread and as it accelerated.

  • About the latest report

    This Global Integrity Report 2020 follows from our previous Global Fraud Survey series and highlights three critical actions for organizations to prioritize in their integrity agendas to help navigate the ethical challenges accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic: personal conduct, third-party management and data integrity.

    Between January and February 2020, our researchers — the global market research agency Ipsos MORI — conducted 2,948 surveys in the local language with board members, senior managers, managers and employees in a sample of the largest organizations and public bodies in 33 countries and territories worldwide. A further 600 surveys in total were conducted in April 2020 using the same respondent profile across China, Germany, India, Italy, the UK and the US during the pandemic.

    See the full respondents profile here (pdf).

Global Integrity Report

90%

of respondents believe that COVID-19 poses a risk to ethical business conduct at their organization.

The level of scrutiny on business from wider society has intensified. Decisions taken by businesses and governments in crisis mode at the height of the pandemic will be judged over the coming months and years. Acting with integrity is now more important than ever. But when the challenges are greater, the risks are as well. How can companies navigate such a landscape with so many potential financial and reputational pitfalls?

Moment of truth: corporate integrity in turbulent times

The vast majority of respondents surveyed at the height of the pandemic believe that COVID-19 poses a risk to ethical business conduct at their organization. Indeed, significant numbers of employees remain willing to act unethically for personal financial gain, and the global pandemic is only exacerbating this by increasing the incentives and opening new avenues for them to do so.

Even before the pandemic took hold, businesses faced significant pressures. Trade wars, sanctions and export controls, fraud and political upheaval all weighed heavily on companies. Now, aside from worsening market conditions, respondents believe the top COVID-19 risks to ethical conduct are:

  • Disruption to traditional working patterns, such as the increase in remote working (33%)
  • Disruption to supply chains (28%)
  • Reduction in employee benefits and compensation (24%)
  • Reduction in staff levels (22%)

Our research also shows a concerning disparity as to the perceptions of ethical behavior at different levels of seniority within organizations. The majority (53%) of junior employees have doubts that management abides by the relevant laws, codes of conduct and industry regulations — yet, in contrast, 58% of board members are very confident that they play by the rules. Meanwhile, 13% of all respondents would be prepared to ignore unethical conduct by third parties in order to boost their career or pay, and that figure rises to 20% among board members.

Greater pressures — and greater scrutiny

The economic fallout of COVID-19 is likely to create a perfect storm for fraud, exposing a decade’s worth of corporate fraud schemes, while giving rise to new ones, The Economist says.1

In addition, society’s views have changed dramatically since the 2007–08 global financial crisis, putting companies under more pressure than ever to do good for people and the planet, through environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. This societal change extends to greater scrutiny of both companies and the conduct of their people. Meanwhile, the rise of social media has given a platform to discuss integrity issues in a much more open way – and consumers are taking notice.

In a post-COVID-19 world, companies will need to work hard to rebuild their businesses and deal with existing threats, as well as new ones. For example, as companies rebuild their supply chains, they must pay careful attention to the business and compliance implications of changing suppliers, logistics routes and sourcing. Sanction infractions in the heat of the pandemic could come back to create regulatory, financial, operational and reputational consequences.

The solution: integrity

But amid these major challenges, companies can protect themselves by putting an “integrity agenda” at the heart of their response to the crisis and the subsequent rebuild. “Corporate integrity is not ‘greenwashing’ or being seen to be doing the right thing for the press,” says Tony Jordan, EY Americas Forensic & Integrity Services Leader. “Integrity is behaving in a way that generates long-term value to support the communities that organizations serve.”

Developing an integrity agenda doesn’t just protect companies by avoiding fines and penalties. It can also help them thrive financially and deliver long-term value to their stakeholders. For example, Ethisphere research found that the world’s most ethical companies outperformed the US large-cap sector by 13.5% over a five-year period.2

We are already seeing early signs of this as more than 70% of ESG funds across all asset classes performed better than their counterparts during the first four months of 2020. And companies that foster strong partnerships with suppliers, employees, investors, regulators and governments based on trust have more robust and agile operations that can adapt quickly as events unfold, The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2020.3

Benefits of working with integrity

Achieving integrity

Based on our research, we believe that there are three actions that are critical for companies to address in order to have the best chance of navigating the crisis with integrity. Click the links in each bullet to learn more.

  1. Embed corporate integrity to protect against unethical conduct. Acting with integrity is more than a mission statement and written policies. It’s a personal quality that everyone in an organization should develop, from the CEO and the board to junior employees, business partners and third parties. Each of these is an ambassador for your organization and their behavior reflects the true values of a business.

  2. Foster trusting partnerships with third parties based on integrity. As companies expand, they are increasingly reliant on third parties to act on their behalf across a variety of markets. Companies that have trusting partnerships with third parties have higher resilience in supply chains and more loyal customers than those that operate purely transactional relationships.

  3. Safeguard data while ethically leveraging its value. Advances in new technologies have optimized operations and helped companies access new insights from the ever-increasing amounts of data they hold. However, adoption of these tools requires adequate assessment of the risks and proper implementation (including training).

To close the gap between intent and reality, organizations should focus their efforts on improving the effectiveness of their compliance programs by assessing the corporate culture, controls and governance from an integrity perspective, leveraging new technologies to provide better data insights.

Ultimately, business integrity enables successful organizations to stay true to their missions, keep their promises, respect laws and ethical norms, foster public trust and increase resilience in times of crisis. This in turn allows them to build capital — both financial and reputational.

How EY can help

Forensic & Integrity Service Offerings

Companies that embed the value of integrity in their strategic vision and day-to-day operations develop stronger businesses, sustain their long-term competitive advantage and deliver more value to shareholders. EY Forensic & Integrity Services can provide the broad sector experience, deep subject-matter knowledge, the people, technologies, processes, tools and insights that help you to instil a culture of integrity in your business

Read more

  • About the survey

    This Global Integrity Report 2020 follows from our previous Global Fraud Survey series and highlights three critical actions for organizations to prioritize in their integrity agendas to help navigate the ethical challenges accelerated by the crisis: personal conduct, third-party management and data integrity.

    Between January and February 2020, our researchers — the global market research agency Ipsos MORI — conducted 2,948 surveys in the local language with board members, senior managers, managers and employees in a sample of the largest organizations and public bodies in 33 countries and territories worldwide. A further 600 surveys in total were conducted in April 2020 using the same respondent profile across China, Germany, India, Italy, the UK and the US during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Show article references#Hide article references

    1. "Who’s lost their trunks: The economic crisis will expose a decade’s worth of corporate fraud,” The Economist, 18 April 2020.
    2. “By the numbers,” Ethisphere Magazine (“The World’s Most Ethical Organizations” edition), Spring 2020.
    3. “ESG Investing Shines in Market Turmoil, With Help From Big Tech,” The Wall Street Journal, 13 May 2020.

Get your integrity score

Answer a few simple questions to reveal how well your organization is making integrity count to create long-term value. At the end of the survey, we will share your overall ‘integrity score’ and highlight some key actions that you can take to ensure you put integrity at the heart of your operations.

Take the survey

Summary

Businesses are facing a once-in-a-generation challenge. Even before the global pandemic hit, companies had huge challenges to address. Now they face new and significant decisions that pose ethical dilemmas, which they must respond to at speed and under increased scrutiny. Integrity is the crucial enabler, and it’s more than a mission statement and written policies. It’s something that everyone should develop, from the CEO and the board to junior employees, business partners and third parties. Companies that do this are more resilient and will be better placed to navigate the aftermath of the pandemic.

About this article

Andrew Gordon
By Andrew Gordon

EY Global Forensic & Integrity Services Leader

Global Forensics Leader focusing on helping organizations build their integrity agenda so they better anticipate and mitigate risk.

Related topics COVID-19 Assurance Forensics Board governance and oversight
Upvote