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20 February, 2021

What ethical guidelines should a manager follow?

 There are so many that it is difficult to list them. Most of them involve proper accounting procedures. There must be proper controles in place to make sure that everything is being recorded in the proper period, and that it is being properly recorded. Also that there is no misappropriation, kickbacks or other fraud. Make sure that there is proper segregation of duties, meaning that one person does not have control over multiple money acceptance and recording functions because that would give them opportunity to steal. Make sure that employees are taking vacations to make sure that they are not running kiting scams, taking from one customer and replacing with another one's payment. Also set the tone at the top by modeling good behavior for your employees. Remember to have a good relationship with the employees so that they can talk to you. This will help to eliminate pressures that they can't share, which might cause them to commit fraud. Look for where opportunities might exist, and mitigate them. And emphasize management's commitment to ethical behavior and give examples of unacceptable behavior so that there is less liklihood that employees will rationalize bad bahavior.Leadership is the primary way companies foster proper ethical behavior. Leaders and executive managers have a responsibility to set the tone for ethical behavior by conducting business in an ethical and moral manner. If a leader fails to display a proper ethical behavior, workers may be unwilling to accept the company's ethical guidelines.

Companies may use a pledge to ensure employees act ethically when dealing with different business situations. These pledges, confirmed by an employee's signature, state a worker's willingness to agree with and follow the company's ethical principles. Companies may also use these pledges to reinforce the importance of business ethics and why employees must sign the pledge and follow these principles. Ethics pledges also grant employees the freedom to report unethical business practices by managers or other employees.