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Ethics Conversations

ETHICS: CONVERSATIONS – 2.5 Hours

Level

Intermediate/Senior – no specific experience required

Course Title

Short Title: ETHICS CONVERSATIONS

Long Title: BUILDING AN ETHICS BASED CULTURE: Conversations in the Boardroom and in the Hallways

Instructors

Brian Friedrich, LL.M, MEd, C.Dir, FCPA, FCGA
Laura Friedrich, MSc, CIA, FCPA, FCGA

Who Should Attend?

Middle and Senior Management

Overview

Organizations with strong ethics-based cultures are significantly less prone to misconduct. Driving the right culture is part of our professional responsibility, and is key to organizational success, but culture can be elusive and dynamic. In this course, you will hear typical scenarios that take place at the boardroom table and less formal conversations that happen in the hallways. We will also hear thoughts on building and maintaining an ethics-based culture from respected colleagues and experts in the field.

Through these scenarios and interviews, we’ll explore promoting culture through examining typical conversations that go on at the board table and in day-to-day operations throughout the organization.

This course includes a quiz with 5 multiple choice questions for each hour of learning and a completion certificate

Content

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Chapter 1: Conversations in the Boardroom

  1. Identify the importance of demonstrating a genuine commitment to the tone at the top is a key driver of ethical culture in organizations.
  2. Negate the idea that healthy alignment means total agreement among the leadership team.
  3. Identify different types of diversity and support the business case for diversity on boards and in senior management.
  4. Identify the systems that senior leadership must establish in order to develop and support an ethics-based culture in the organization that aligns with the organization’s mission, vision, and values.
  5. Determine appropriate qualitative and quantitative metrics that monitor culture and help provide accountability for decision-making in an ethics context.

Chapter 2: Conversations in the Hallways

  1. Identify how the “mood in the middle” amplifies the “tone at the top” and determine how employees at all levels of the organization can reframe situations to present a more compelling argument for ethical decision-making.
  2. Distinguish diversity from inclusion and identify how organizations can thrive by achieving an inclusive culture.
  3. Determine how middle managers can use the tools available to them to foster and develop an ethics-based culture within their teams.
  4. Determine how the experience of colleagues can be applied to your own role as an ethical leader.

EXPERT INTERVIEWS:

  • Patricia Harned Ph.D, CEO, Ethics & Compliance Initiative
  • Vivian Li, CPA, CA, CIA, Internal Auditor, PGT BC
  • Serge Massad, Investment Advisor, National Bank Financial
  • Richard Rennie, CPA, CA, CFO and Executive Director, PGT BC
  • Catherine Romanko, MA, LLB, Public Guardian and Trustee, PGT BC
  • David Ross, FCPA, FCA, Chair of CPA Canada's Unified Rules Standing Committee
  • Joy Thomas, MBA, C.Dir, FCPA, FCMA, CEO, CPA Canada

Prerequisite

None.

SAICA members and associates