ACCA lists how an organisation can get its corporate culture right

Disturbed by the inability of some boards to effectively define their companies’ corporate culture, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have highlighted some critical roles an efficient boardroom can play in setting the ethical compass of an organisation.
The roles were highlighted in a recent report entitled, ‘Culture and Channelling Corporate Behaviour’. The report, which is based on a series of discussions and survey by ACCA members, also raised the need for boards to endeavour to ask themselves three fundamental questions when assessing an organisation’s culture.
The questions which were highlighted in the report include: what are the goals and purposes of the organisation? What sort of behaviour does it wish to encourage and discourage and how is the tone at the top set out and conveyed through the organisation? And how are they expected to help board members help shape an organisation’s culture.
In a statement released to BusinessDay on the new report, Paul Moxey, head of corporate governance and risk management at ACCA, revealed that an organisation can have the most sophisticated code of governance and rules, but as recent high profile scandals have shown, poor organisational culture can be a significant cause of corporate wrong doing, adding that to design a system that works, it is important to ask the right questions, such as what kind of culture do you want?
The report further lists a number of tradeoffs that need to be balanced by the boardroom and by staff, such as: is there openness to mistakes, or zero tolerance? Is the organisation innovative, or controlled? Does profit rule, or public value matter more?
The report also lists seven points for consideration by the board to serve as a starting point for assessment and possible change.
The points in the report include: the need to align and embed core values at the very top; watch out for the trickle-down effect and dynamics in groups; track how decisions are being made; be honest about the value of regulation and codes; beware of unintended consequences attached to any incentives structure; find out what motivates people and anticipate trends.