The Role of Codes of Ethics and the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest in the Fight Against Corruption
human vigilance ( 53 percent of cases detected ). Preparing , distributing , and sometimes signing codes of ethics and declarations of interests and assets is the best way to raise staff awareness of corruption .
3 Two Examples of an Ethical Framework to Fight Corruption
To understand how an ethical framework that sets out a list of values and
organizes the prevention of conflicts of interest is likely to be a bulwark against corruption , it is necessary to examine where it operates in economic sectors that involve public and private relationships . This is the case for the accounting sector , whose mission is to publish reliable figures needed by stakeholders ( tax authorities , shareholders , banks , etc .) and the public procurement sector , in which companies are suppliers to the administration .
3.1 The Ethics of Accounting Professionals
As far as the fight against corruption is concerned , the professionals of the figure , i . e ., auditors ( statutory auditors ) and accountants , have a fundamental role to play insofar as no embezzlement or misappropriation is possible without the offenders needing , at one time or another , to conceal in the accounts the illegal financial flows they have generated .
Corrupters and corrupted people need the funds that come out of a public accountant ’ s till and enter without legal basis into a private patrimony to find a pretext in accounting . The solemn oaths taken by the professionals of the accounting profession when they take office and the codes of ethics that they must apply afterwards , under penalty of disciplinary sanctions , constitute guarantees against their participation in corruption . Whether they are active in corruption , i . e ., beneficiaries or accomplices , or whether they are deceived through negligence ( lack of diligence in their controls ), the penalties incurred by these professionals before their disciplinary bodies , in addition to any criminal convictions , are very heavy because of the aggravating nature of perjury to the oath .
As Table 5 below shows , one can be struck by the similarities , in these oaths and codes , between the rules imposed on cipher professionals practicing in the private sector ( chartered accountants and auditors ) and in the public sector ( members of financial courts , such as Cour des Comptes , and regional audit chambers and public accountants ).
As can be seen from the values highlighted , these common ethical rules are those that offer the best protection against corruption . This link is obvious for the obligations of integrity , probity , honor , and independence and the denunciation of crimes and misdemeanors , but it is also the case for the two imperatives of secrecy ( which protects against the disclosure of information that would be carried out in return for payment ) and competence ( which protects cipher professionals against attempts by criminals to abuse them , e . g ., by means of false documents ).
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