The Evolving Role of the Ethics and Compliance Officer

From the time that the Enron, WorldCom and other financial scandals burst into news headlines, the attention paid to compliance and ethics functions in business has increased exponentially. Yet many companies are still struggling with management approaches to, and staffing concerns surrounding, the ethics and compliance function. “Best practice” in ethics management seems to be elusive.

The Evolving Role of the Ethics and Compliance Professional is a clear-eyed look at the field based on broad research and the input of ethics and compliance professionals from across Canada. It aims to promote better understanding of the “integrity management” function by reconciling some of the conflicting perspectives on the nature of the corporate ethics and compliance function; by profiling the skills and attributes required by ethics and compliance officers; and by outlining how integrity management should be structured and resourced. The report also reflects briefly on the future evolution of the field.