A few years ago, during a regular sales review, I posed a question to my Sales Head:
“If a customer promises us a large business order but asks for the latest iPhone in return, what should we do?”
He paused for a moment and then without hesitation said, “Yes! We should give it. It’s good for the company.”
He wasn’t being dishonest. He was being practical, by the standards of how business is often done. Many might even agree with him. After all, that’s “relationship management,” right?
But I’ve always believed that once you justify a small ethical compromise in pursuit of business, it’s like lighting a fire in dry grass. It may start outside your fence, but soon enough, it reaches your own backyard, to your own procurement, hiring, finances… and then it becomes uncontrollable.
That conversation made me reflect deeply on what really keeps organizations ethical. Not policies. Not fear. But culture, a culture where integrity isn’t enforced, it’s expected.
1. It Starts with Everyday Conversations
Most organizations have policies, codes, and training modules about ethics. They all look good on paper. But ethics shouldn’t live in training manuals, it should live in conversations. While many companies even conduct ethics workshops or circulate compliance emails, but few talk about real dilemmas people face in their daily work.
Ethics begins when people can talk openly about real dilemmas:
- Should I entertain a client beyond company limits?
- Should I overlook a small non-compliance to meet a deadline?
- Should I say no to a manager when something feels off?
Ask your teams questions like:
- Would you be comfortable if this decision appeared on the front page of tomorrow’s paper?
- Would I make this same choice if no one was watching?
When people feel safe to discuss such scenarios openly, ethics stops being a policy and becomes a shared practice.
2. Build Trust, Not Fear
A whistleblower policy is only as strong as the trust behind it.
Employees won’t report concerns if they fear retaliation or if they think management will look the other way.
The 2024 ACFE Report to the Nations shows that 43% of occupational frauds are detected through tips, and 52% of them from employees alone. That statistic alone proves that your best control system isn’t technology or audit, it’s trust.
Organizations that genuinely listen, protect confidentiality, and act decisively build the kind of environment where integrity becomes self-reinforcing. People don’t stay silent, because they believe their voices matter.
3. Pressure Is the Enemy of Principles
Fraud often begins with good people under bad pressure.
Unrealistic sales targets, short-term financial goals, or “do whatever it takes” attitudes can push employees into grey areas. And most frauds don’t start with greed — they start with justification. “Everyone else does it.” “It’s harmless.” “It’s for the company’s good.”
Companies must regularly evaluate whether their incentive systems reward integrity or inadvertently encourage misconduct. Set ambitious goals, but not impossible ones. Celebrate those who meet targets the right way.
Fraud prevention isn’t just about catching wrongdoing; it’s about designing workplaces that make wrongdoing unnecessary.
4. Leadership Must Walk the Talk
Tone at the top is one of the most repeated phrases in governance, but it’s also one of the most misunderstood.
It’s not just about issuing statements on ethics. It’s about what leaders do when no one’s watching. How they treat people who make mistakes. Whether they take responsibility when things go wrong. Whether they say no when shortcuts look tempting.
Culture cascades. If senior leaders compromise, everyone below will find reasons to do the same. But if they lead with consistency, even when it hurts in the short term, the organization builds an unshakable foundation of trust.
5. Make Ethics Accessible
One of the insights from ACFE’s checklist for ethical workplaces is to make doing the right thing easy. That means:
- Clear reporting channels for employees at all levels.
- Training that uses real scenarios, not abstract principles.
- Reinforcing stories of ethical behaviour in newsletters, townhalls, and team meetings.
When ethics feels practical, not philosophical, it becomes part of how people naturally make decisions.
6. Recognize and Reward Integrity
People notice what gets rewarded.
If only numbers and results are celebrated, employees will assume that’s all leadership cares about.
Equally recognize honesty, transparency, and courage. Whether it’s a manager who rejected an improper offer or an employee who flagged a concern early… these moments deserve acknowledgment.
They quietly tell the organization, “This is who we are.”
7. Ethics Is Everyone’s Job
Fraud prevention is often seen as the compliance team’s responsibility, but culture doesn’t work that way. Everyone, from the board to the front line, has a role in shaping ethical norms.
Boards must ask tough questions, not just about profits but about how profits are made.
Managers must coach, not command. Employees must speak up early.
When each person sees ethics as their personal responsibility, governance stops being paperwork, it becomes muscle memory.
Final Reflection: The Fire You Prevent
That conversation about the iPhone may sound small, even trivial, compared to the multi-million-dollar frauds we read about. But those big scandals always start with small “iPhone moment” rationalizations; a gift here, a favour there, a “one-time exception.”
Ethics isn’t about grand gestures. It’s about a thousand small decisions made correctly every day.
As we observe International Fraud Awareness Week in the month of November, it’s worth remembering:
You can outsource audits; you can automate controls; but you cannot outsource integrity.
So, ask yourself: “If a decision today could set a tone for your company’s future, what tone would you want it to be?”