Essay Sample on Ethics & Integrity: Essential for Business Success

Introduction

Ethical behaviors and integrity are key factors that influence the success of every business firm. Ethics may be described as the concepts of right or wrong or the determination of what is right and what is wrong. Ethics in a firm or a business organization normally addresses the aspect of human morality in the definition of good and evil and right and wrong. On the other hand, integrity refers to the practice of honesty and possession of consistent and uncompromising adherence to ethical and moral principles and values. Integrity carries the phenomenon of honesty and truthfulness of people in an organization. Therefore, integrity and ethical behaviors are important factors for every person in a business firm. The two are principles that are intertwined are play a key role in the operations and leadership in every business organization or firm. For instance, Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) is a firm whose integrity and ethical behaviors, or codes of ethics have been influential the success of the firm as discussed below.

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Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler is a professional group that is based on financial auditing. It has been recently ranked fourth among the other professional service groups. KPMG has integrated effective professional ethics and integrity principles that have greatly influenced their performance hence ranked fourth among the other recognized service groups. KMPG describes their professional ethics as a set of guidance that enhances the professional body to carry out their duties in a proper ethical manner. The ethical behaviors of the organization are based on their core values of leading by example, working as a team, respect for every individual, commitment to the organization, honesty in communication as well as seeking for facts and providing insight (Schwartz, M.S., 2002, p. 24). They have usually emphasized the elements of knowledge, intelligence quotient and behavior as the integrated factors in the concept of ethics. KPMG encourages these three elements that lead the organization members or personnel to avoid misbehaviors, misconduct, and instances of committing frauds. Professional ethics in KMPG have played an important role in the protection of investors, employee guidance and guidance to the employers facilitating effective and efficient task operations hence reducing instances of frauds and irregularities. Investors who are the clients of KPMG seeks for reliability and relevance in their financial statements. To achieve this, KPMG has had satisfactory professional ethics which have enhances their employees be able to prepare reliable and relevant statements that are beneficial to the investor's community. This has played a key function in the success of KPMG Company. Moreover, through ethical behaviors, there has been an effective guidance channel that eliminates the chances of confusion in the company performance; therefore, there are low probabilities of the top management misleading employees into the performance of unethical work standard, for example as it happened in WorldCom. However, in some instance, the Financial Reporting Council fined KPMG for the misconduct that oversaw the company providing expert witness services in a commercial court claim. This fine was as a result of breaching ethical standards (HOLDER, F. 2013, p. 14). This would always subject the company into alert in every act they are involved in. Therefore, professional ethics have been important in providing guidance to KPMG community into carrying out their jobs in an ethical way. This has enhanced the achievement of their success.

KPMG observes the principle of integrity. This has played an important role in achieving their success. The community hold the concept of integrity as all the principles in the code of conduct and is an engine of the corporate responsibility platform. The company observes integrity to facilitate its sustainability in relation to the capital markets that they serve. Their principle of integrity is based on independence, trust, and objectivity between the KPMG organization and their relationship with their clients and the capital markets that it serves. This, therefore, requires KPMG to carry out its duties with the highest standards of professionalism, transparency, and integrity. The organization has, therefore, shown extended integrity and commitment to the clients through the services they offer. This has built an effective relationship and partnership between KPMG and their clients, a relationship built under trust as a result of integrity in their partnership. Acting with integrity is one of the codes of conduct stated in the firm's codes of conduct. This enhances honesty in the compliance of applicable laws and regulations upholding the operations of the community. The act of integrity depicts the expectations between the organization and the clients and the capital markets in the provision of sound and professionalized standard service. Therefore, integrity has been a vital principle in the success of KPMG firm by ensuring honesty and strong moral principles in the service of their clients. This has enhanced the realization of firm goals and objectives.

Conclusion

Ethical behaviors and integrity are viewed to be core principles in every business organization that propels it to the heights of success and realization of the goals and objectives of the organization. In the discussion above, it is evident that KPMG has been successful by the integration of these principles. Through integrity and ethical codes, KPMG has been able to effectively serve its clients by providing professional standards services and hence building effective relationships with the capital markets. However, it was involved in a crisis with the Financial Reporting Council; it has not been a victim of several such cases. Overall, ethical behaviors and integrity have also enhanced the performance of the employees and leadership in KPMG hence driving the organization towards achieving its success.

References

HOLDER, F. (2013). Integrity in business: developing ethical behavior across cultures and jurisdictions. Farnham, Gower. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=64329.

Schwartz, M.S., 2002. A code of ethics for a corporate code of ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 41(1-2), pp.27-43. https://www.frc.org.uk/news/august-2018/sanctions-against-kpmg-and-senior-statutory-audito