Question

describe the process of conducting an ethics audit in detail

Answer 1

Ethics Audit is basically an investigation into how a firm confirms to the ethical standards of its industry or surrounding generally. Generally Ethics Audit may consider the organisation’s own practices of how it addresses griefs, discloses its finances, whether it punishes whistle-blowers and even general cultural surrounding its dealings. Some companies may formally adopt a code of ethics and conduct periodic ethics audits to measure how closely they follow their own principles.

Audits are designed to dig deep into organization’s records to ensure reliability and precision in areas like accounting systems, financial reporting and legal compliance. Audits generally deal with quantitative, easily measurable data. Ethical issues, on the other hand, are more often qualitative or subjective in nature. A number of qualitative research techniques make an ethical audit possible, but an ethical audit still necessarily functions differently from any kind of financial audit. Considering multiple perspectives to gain a big-picture understanding of a company's commitment to ethics is the key to an ethical audit.

Conducting the Ethics Audit ->

1. In agency settings, an employee should take the role of chair of the ethics audit committee. Members should be appointed to the committee based on their demonstrated interest in the agency’s ethics-related policies, practices, and procedures. Ideally, the chair would have obtained formal education or training related to professional ethics.

2. The audit committee should identify specific ethics-related issues on which to focus. In some settings, the committee may decide to conduct a comprehensive ethics audit. In other agencies, the committee may focus on specific ethical issues that are especially important in those settings.

3. The ethics audit committee should look what kind of information it will need to conduct the audit. Data may be gathered from documents and interviews conducted with agency people that address specific ethical issues. The committee should also review relevant codes of ethics and federal and state statutes and regulations.

4. Once the necessary data are gathered andseen properly, the audit committee should assess the risk level associated with each issue. Each issue should be assessed with respect to relevant agency policies and the procedures staffers follow. Policies may be codified in formal agency documents or memoranda. Procedures entail social workers’ actual handling of ethical issues in their relationships with clients, colleagues, and third parties.

5. Once an ethics audit has been finished, social workers need make use of its findings. Social workers should develop an action plan for each risk area that warrants attention, beginning with high-risk issues, then moving on to moderate- and minimal-risk issues. The action plans should spell out specific measures that need to be taken to address the identified problem areas.

6. The committee should identify which people will be held for the various tasks and establish a timetable for completion of each and a mechanism to follow up on each task to ensure its completion and monitor its implementation.

7. The committee should document the complete audit process to demonstrate its good-faith effort to assess ethics-related policies and procedures. This writing may be helpful in the event that anyone raises questions about the adequacy of the agency’s ethics-related practices.

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