Company culture: setting the right tone
Meet four experienced board members who all understand the power of a strong culture for any organisation to achieve its long-term goals.
Corporate culture
Find out more about corporate culture or 'the tone at the top' as it also known.
In this section
Articles and features
The critical role of boards in developing strong ethics and compliance
Increasing regulation and public scrutiny of corporate behaviour means ethics and compliance is now a vital part of the boardroom agenda.
Corporate liability: is the net closing in?
The Law Commission has put forward a range of options for enhancing the legal system’s ability to prosecute corporations for economic crime. Do the proposals go far enough?
Advice for auditors from the experts
Insights and examples of good practices from regulators and firms may assist all auditors to improve their challenge of management.
Guidance and reports
Organisational culture: Leadership styles
It is recognised that an effective culture can reduce risk and improve performance of an organisation, and that the success or failure of the culture is greatly influenced by its leaders. This guide, written by Jenny Jones, explores different leadership styles and the impact they can have on organisational culture.
Audit quality – how to raise the bar
What steps can and should audit committees, audit regulators, investors and auditors in the UK take to improve audit quality? This essay from the Audit and Assurance Faculty examines audit quality in terms of ownership, behavioural aspects, and structural drivers.
Why culture is important and the power of culture metrics
This guide, written by Jenny Jones, explains the importance of organisational culture and why businesses must get it right. It considers the benefits of a new metrics-based approach to measuring culture, and how the data gathered can support the organisation as it evolves.
Webinars and other recordings
How a board should maintain the right culture during periods of fast growth
In the first of two Insights In Focus special episodes an experienced panel discuss a dilemma facing a fictional software company.
The value of having the right culture
Sophie Black, Partner at Mercer and John Davies, Associate Director at EY share their views on the value and importance of culture in an organisation. Both speakers share details of their research into organisational culture and how culture can be measured.
Whistleblowing and fraud
Ian Foxley, whistleblower and Dino Bossi, Addveritas share their views on the benefits of whistleblowing and the system that should be in place to support people.
Managing social media to avoid reputational damage
Jennifer Janson, Six Degrees and Jamie Harley, PwC discuss the potential impact of social media on reputation, how best to manage this risk and use social media to the benefit of the organisation.
Trust in business
Podcast: Hear some insights from a range of different perspectives on this important subject. Learn about the importance of being trustworthy, worker representation at the John Lewis Partnership, the role of the media and the rebuilding of trust by the banks since 2008.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by external guest speakers in interviews or other publications included on this website are, by their nature, those of the speaker. They are not necessarily fully endorsed by the ICAEW or purport to reflect the official policies and views of the ICAEW or its members.
Bloomsbury Accounting and Tax Service
Eligible firms have free access to Bloomsbury Professional's comprehensive online library, comprising more than 60 titles from some of the country's leading tax and accounting subject matter experts. Find out who is eligible and how you can access the Accounting and Tax Service.
Culture, ethics and the board
A chapter focusing on the board's role in reviewing their company's culture, ethics and behaviour.
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eBooks
The Library & Information Service provides a collection of eBooks as a benefit of membership. Please note that ICSA publications are only available to ICAEW members and ACA students. Please log in to access these titles. If you are unable to access an eBook, please see our Help and support or contact library@icaew.com
Driven to the brink: why corporate governance, board leadership and culture matter
A collection of stories about how inadequate governance and flawed culture caused a massive destruction of shareholder value.
Investor relations
Guide to the duties of modern finance directors. Chapter 16 deals with investor relations, including: shareholder engagement; inside information; corporate ethics and corporate culture and corporate social responsibility.
Strategies for improving organisational effectiveness
This title provides guidance on combining human resource management with business strategy. This chapter looks at strategies that develop processes that support the achievement of business goals and a positive culture.
Responsible leadership
An introduction to business ethics.
Terms of use: You are permitted to access, download, copy, or print out content from eBooks for your own research or study only, subject to the terms of use set by our suppliers and any restrictions imposed by individual publishers. Please see individual supplier pages for full terms of use.
Industry press
The Library & Information Service provides a collection of articles as a benefit of membership. Please log in to view these articles. If you are unable to access the articles, please see our Help and support page or contact library@icaew.com.
Innovation-driven culture
Developing a culture that prioritizes innovation is the key to creating long-term sustainable value, say the authors. They use three companies as case studies - Reading Bakery Systems, Johnson & Johnson, and the LEGO Group.
Engaging employees in the world of hybrid work
The pandemic has radically changed how employees experience corporate culture, and firms must embrace the new reality. Researchers suggest three strategies to help both hybrid home/office and far-flung employees feel connected.
A healthy workplace culture is the 'secret sauce' to success, Part 2
How organizations can take action to transform their culture from the prevailing to the preferred, using a 'Workplace Culture Assessment' approach.
A healthy workplace culture is the 'secret sauce' for success, Part 1
The right culture lifts people up, expands the capacity of the workforce to execute new challenges, and enhances the organization's performance. Patrick Ibarra considers how organizations can create a 'connection culture', which combines vision, value and voice.
Terms of use: You are permitted to access articles subject to the terms of use set by our suppliers and any restrictions imposed by individual publishers. Please see individual supplier pages for full terms of use.
Useful links
Corporate Governance Review 2020
Grant Thornton's review of the annual reports of 297 of the UK’s FTSE 350 companies with years ending between April 2019 and April 2020. The section on culture looks at board leadership and company purpose, 'the Tone from the top' and measuring culture . A toolkit for culture reporting is included.
Culture and governance
FCA page on culture in governance in the financial services industry. Includes the discussion paper Transforming culture in financials services
Governing culture: practical considerations for the board and its committees
20 page paper from EY that looks into the role of boards and the various board committees in governing an organisation's culture.
Governing culture: risk & opportunity
The guide highlights the difference between the role of the board and the role of the executive team in leading and managing culture, looks at questions that boards might ask of themselves and of their executive and offers a ‘roadmap’ to help boards assess their approach is to governing culture.
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