Managing Conflict of Interest - Organisation for Economic Co ...

Executive Summary xviiThe People’s Congress oversees the system, and disciplinary measuresare administered through a centralized legal framework involvingthe police and the judiciary.A risk management model guides the Australian Public Service(APS). The APS Code of Conduct is written into the Public ServiceAct (PSA), which prescribes sanctions for failure to comply with professionalprinciples and standards. However, individual governmentagencies have autonomy in determining how to interpret the PSAand enforce the Code. Fifteen core values that must be upheldare listed in the Code, which also provides a range of advice andguidance to agencies and their employees to help them meet theirobligations under the Code. Chapters outline appropriate waysof dealing with public resources and resolving possible conflictsbetween public and private interests of public officials in decisionmaking.Codes of conduct are also necessary in the private sector tocombat public sector malfeasance and corporate fraud. The environmentin which COI occurs is rapidly changing, blurring the linesbetween the public and private sectors. Pakistan has made importantefforts in meeting international accounting standards: its corporateregulatory framework is supported by oversight bodies andguided by a series of targeted statutes and an enforceable codeof conduct. However, practitioners working in Pakistan’s financialsector cite ongoing challenges in keeping related party financingat appropriate arm’s length and in monitoring COIs, underminingcontracting transactions between the public and private sectors.In the wake of recent corporate corruption scandals, companiesare looking beyond legal requirements, as corporate social responsibility,good governance practices, and a culture of ethics andhonesty are increasingly recognized as vital to protecting both acompany’s reputation and its bottom line. After suffering from corporatefraud in the early 1990s, the German-based pharmaceuticalmultinational Bayer, for instance, developed an approach to instillinga corporate culture of ethics that was based on values and zero-tolerancecompliance. Bayer emphasizes that business sustainabilitydepends on compliance with its code of ethics, which permeateseverything it does—from its operating policies to employee training,performance measurement, and its core business functions.These examples support the argument that “good governanceequals good business” and demonstrate how codes of conductADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific