FTSE 100 ethical standards 'hard to measure'
FTSE leaders talk about ethical standards but struggle to provide evidence, the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors warns
ETHICAL STANDARDS are widely touted but rarely explained by FTSE 100 companies, a new survey has indicated.
The Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors said while 91% of top listed companies talk about high standards of ethics and integrity in their annual reports, just 8% provide a basis for measurement.
Chief executive Dr Ian Peters said: “What gets measured, gets done, so the lack of simple metrics on companies’ ethical standards should be a matter of concern.
“It suggests that either companies don’t take ethics seriously, or they think investors don’t – and the latter is increasingly unlikely to be the case.”
More than half (56%) of the FTSE leaders said they have an ethical code or policy, but only 3% demonstrated their employees had read an understood it, and a further 4% showed what proportion of the workforce had been trained in proper ethical standards.