Summary:
The compliance-based approach and the integrity approach have been the mainstream responses to corporate scandals. This paper proposes that, despite each approach comprising necessary elements, neither offers a comprehensive solution. Compliance and integrity, far from being mutually exclusive, reinforce each other. Working together, in a correct relationship, they build a harmonized system that yields positive synergies and which also advocates prudence (phrónesis). It enables the generation of a culture of compliance that tends to minimize the technical and ethical errors in decision making. In order to explore an applied harmonized approach, we analyze the audit committee, a specific and broadly accepted regulatory instrument. Formed by non-executive members, regulation requires these members to be dedicated, qualified, and independent as a guarantee of efficiency. We show how the compound of those elements produces positive effects in a context of solid governance. We conclude that it is the strong relationship between efficiency and prudence, in the creation of a culture of compliance, which enables the minimization of errors.
JCR Impact Factor and WoS quartile: 2,919 - Q1 (2018); 4,800 - Q3 (2022)
DOI reference:
https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12182
Published on paper: April 2018.
Published on-line: January 2018.
Citation:
R. Calderón, R. Piñero, D.M. Redín, Can compliance restart integrity? Toward a harmonized approach. The example of the audit committee. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility. Vol. 27, nº. 2, pp. 195 - 206, April 2018. [Online: January 2018]
