In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in the ethical behaviour of both business and the professions. Customers, clients and employees have begun to search for, and specifically try to work with, those organizations that have clearly set out their basic ethical ground rules.

This is especially evident in the case of financial institutions and companies with whom the members of the general public invest. Clear ethical statements are now published to attract ethical investors who try to ensure that their funds will be used in projects and organizations with acceptable and clearly stated ethical goals.

Increasingly, organizations are being judged not simply by their profit records but by their behaviour and their success in adhering to their stated ethical rules. They are held to account by the public, investors, clients and employees when they go astray.