Nieuws 23 september 2009

'Integriteit belangrijkste principe professioneel gedrag accountant'

Met de publicatie van het discussiestuk 'Integrity in professional ethics' wil de Europese koepel van beroepsorganisaties van accountants FEE het debat met belanghebbenden stimuleren over het belang van integriteit in organisaties, in het bijzonder de fundamentele rol van integer handelen voor het vertrouwen in het accountantsberoep.

Persbericht van de FEE:

FEE believes integrity is the core principle of professional behaviour

Brussels, 22 September 2009 - With the launch of the Discussion Paper "Integrity in Professional Ethics", FEE (Fédération des Experts comptables Européens - Federation of European Accountants) aims at promoting the importance of integrity to business in general, and the accountancy profession in particular. The accountancy profession recognises that ethical behaviour is fundamental to drive trust and confidence whilst its codes tend to focus on objectivity and independence. FEE believes that integrity is the core principle of professional behaviour; as the concept is understood differently by different people, particularly in an international context, this Discussion Paper is aimed at engaging into a dialogue with stakeholders.

With this paper, FEE seeks to promote a debate about the importance of integrity in the accountancy profession and business in general and to engage stakeholders in considering what behaving with integrity in a professional and business context should mean. It refers to a person's character and resulting behaviour. At the end of the day, it is always about ‘doing the right thing' and being understood as doing the right thing. The paper also includes a number of practical suggestions as to how to encourage integrity at an individual and organisational level.

"One of the fundamental causes of the current crisis has been the temptations to sacrifice ethical behaviour for short term results and under the current circumstances some may be even more tempted. However, the need for ethical behaviour is even greater as trust and confidence are fragile and the reputational risk to business from unethical behaviour is great." said FEE President Hans van Damme.

A distinguishing hallmark of the accountancy profession is the acceptance of its responsibility to take into account the public interest. Integrity and ethics must be at the heart of professional life in order to achieve public trust.

The culture of an organisation has an impact on the way individuals behave within it. A code of conduct is often a key component of any framework that encourages people to behave with integrity. FEE CEO Olivier Boutellis-Taft added: "A reputation for integrity is built up over time but can be rapidly destroyed. It is affected by the behaviour of all the individuals within an organisation; those with the greatest degree of influence are likely to have the most impact, but everyone's behaviour has an effect."

FEE welcomes the views of stakeholders, particularly in respect of the questions posed throughout the paper. Details of how you can feed back are included at the end of the paper.