Big question: Ethics ignored by one in four finance directors.
Ethical issues are unlikely to play a role in business decisions made by one in four companies.
FDs from more than 50 UK companies told this week’s Accountancy Age/Reed Big Question they would not let ethics come between them and profit.
‘In the end, money’s money,’ one finance director said. ‘I am a businessman and that kind of thing doesn’t interest me.’
Another FD claimed: ‘A lot of other factors are taken into account when deciding who to do business with, but in the business world of today, ethics do not come into it.’
But a 65% majority of FDs said that they would consider ethical factors before making choices. ‘Large professional firms have a certain social responsibility that should not be shed because it becomes temporarily inconvenient,’ an anonymous FD stated.