Business Ethics – What CFOs & Controllers Need to Know

Overview:

The CPA profession requires its members to protect the public interest. This places controllers and CFOs between the requirements of laws, regulations, standards and rules, and the demands made from their leadership team and boards. The demands of the leaders and owners can sometimes contradict the rules and regulations. Thus, controllers and CFOs must perform a balancing act between these two forces.

In this course, we demonstrate that ethical values and business practices are essential to balance these forces and to grow and succeed in any business organization. The course will help controllers and CFOs consider actual ethical dilemmas they face. It will prepare them for dilemmas they may encounter in the future, regardless of the size of the organization or the role they play within the organization.

We provide a step-by-step approach that will help controllers and CFOs navigate through complex and sensitive ethical issues. We demonstrate how to take a risk-based approach that considers the probability and impact of ethics-related risks occurring. We examine the risk related to the owner managers, staff, customers, suppliers, lenders and regulators. Then, we consider prevention, detection and mitigation strategies for each type of risk.

Course Content:

 In this course you will gain knowledge about the following topics:

• Dilemmas faced by controllers and CFOs
• Ethics fundamentals
• Return on Investment from ethical business practices
• How to perform an ethics risk analysis
• Identification and mitigation of each type of risk 
• Emerging issues for controllers and CFOs 
• Self-assessment exercises

Learning Objectives:

Upon completing this course, you should be able to:

• Examine the role of the controller and the CFO through an ethics lens. 
• Explain how to utilize an ethics risk analysis for your organization.
• Describe ethical risks related to the owner managers, staff, customers, suppliers, lenders and regulators. 
• Identify and evaluate risks you are currently facing in your own organization.
• Identify steps to prevent, detect and mitigate ethics risks that have a high probability and high impact.

Who Will Benefit: 

This course is ideal for accountants and CPAs, particularly controllers and CFOs, who need to navigate the complex balance between regulatory requirements and leadership demands while upholding ethical values and business practices.