Ethics and Governance in Business Operations

ETHICS AND
GOVERNANCE

REPORT 1
Executive Summary
The following work is a study of the ethical aspects of the business operations and
highlights the need to comply with the ethical requirements. The inquiries initiated by the
Royal Commission were one of the significant steps against the organisations engaged in the
banking, superannuation, and insurance sector of Australia. The recommendations of the
Royal Commission are on the lines of the compliance with the respective duties of the
organisations and individuals that are part of them, as necessitated by the Deontological
ethical theories.
Further, the next segment of the report involves the study of the APES 110 Code of
Ethics as laid down by the Accounting Professional & Ethical Standards Board Limited
(“APESB”). The code highlights the responsibility of the members that are in business in the
form of directors, accountants or other ways with the organisations that are involved in the
unethical conducts. The case study of Freedom Insurance is studied with the help of the code.

REPORT 2
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Ethical theories...........................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the Royal Commission inquiry and recommendations with Deontology theory....4
APES 110 Code of Ethics and the unethical conduct of the Freedom Insurance Group Limited
....................................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8

REPORT 3
Introduction
The globalization and the explosion in the communication in the organizations have
led to the increased requirement of the ethical conduct on the part of the business. Business
ethics refers to a code of conduct inclusive of the legal rules, regional practices, and overall
moral and ethical principles that govern the activities of the business organisations. The
ethical principles help the businesses in distinguishing between the wrong and the right part
of the businesses (Scalet, 2018). These are significant to be complied with as they facilitate
the addressing the interests of the stakeholders namely customers, employees, investors,
suppliers and regulators; who are not regarded as the immediate beneficiary of the business
activities. The Royal Commission inquiry in relation to the unethical practices and business
conduct of major Australian organisations serve as a benchmark and is one of the most
popular inquiries in Australia (Bulling, 2019).
The following report is prepared to demonstrate the importance of the ethical conduct
by the businesses. The demonstration would be done with the aid of theoretical as well as the
practical evaluation. The theoretical aspect would include the study of the ethical theory of
deontology, and the study of the APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. The
practical aspects of the work include the evaluation of recommendations in the report of
Royal Commission and the examination of the case study of Freedom Insurance Group
Limited, which had come across in the sixth hearing of the Royal Commission.
Ethical theories
Over the years, a number of philosophers have developed a wide range of ethical
theories to guide the conduct of the individuals as well as the business organisations. While
some theories are focussed on the consequence of the actions in terms of moral outcomes and
overall social wellbeing, some theories are based on consideration of morals and ethics at the
time of performance of acts and decision making itself and not wait for the consequences.
The ethical theories belonging to the former group are known as the Teleology (or
consequentialist) philosophies, which includes Egoism and Utilitarianism. The theory of
Deontology, Virtue ethics, Justice Theories are in contrast to the consequentialist theories.
The work is centred on the deontology.
Immanuel Kant is regarded as the Father of Deontology. The theory is based on the
belief that correctness of the actions must be judged with the aid of the moral principles, and