Put It in Writing
from
What Directors Think 2003
by Peter Keating
One concrete sign that boards are reexamining corporate behavior: The majority of publicly traded U.S. companies have recently revised their ethics and compliance policies, according to 373 directors surveyed by Corporate Board Member and Deloitte & Touche.
In the survey, 83% of directors say their companies have a code of ethics or conduct approved by the board. Of those respondents:
- 74.6% report that their companies use a compliance program to track the code’s implementation.
- 95.1% say the code applies to everyone, including senior management and board members; 21.1% report a supplementary code for members of the financial management team; and 6.8% say there’s a special or additional code for directors.
- 73.6% say that their companies’ compliance program has changed because of the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform act of 2002; 66.7% say the code of ethics or conduct has changed. And 29.4% report that their companies have altered directors’ compensation.
