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    PROF TM Tax Professionals Ethical Responsibilities 1 3

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    Elias Kehayias
    This document summarizes a presentation given to tax professionals about their ethical responsibilities to society. It makes three key points: 1) At the core of ethical conduct is trustworthiness, and those with public power or control over resources have a duty to use power entrusted to them responsibly. 2) Integrity lapses, like corruption, are a major cause of societal problems and governance failures. Tax professionals have an important role in upholding high ethical standards. 3) The drivers of unethical behavior include greed, ignorance, fear, and poor systems/culture. Ethics can be taught through codes of conduct, leadership models, case studies, stories, and ensuring accountability. Maintaining integrity

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    PROF TM Tax Professionals Ethical Responsibilities 1 3

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    Elias Kehayias
    33 views15 pages
    This document summarizes a presentation given to tax professionals about their ethical responsibilities to society. It makes three key points: 1) At the core of ethical conduct is trustworthiness, and those with public power or control over resources have a duty to use power entrusted to them responsibly. 2) Integrity lapses, like corruption, are a major cause of societal problems and governance failures. Tax professionals have an important role in upholding high ethical standards. 3) The drivers of unethical behavior include greed, ignorance, fear, and poor systems/culture. Ethics can be taught through codes of conduct, leadership models, case studies, stories, and ensuring accountability. Maintaining integrity

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    ETHICS

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    PROF_TM_Tax_Professionals_Ethical_Responsibilities_1__3_

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    This document summarizes a presentation given to tax professionals about their ethical responsibilities to society. It makes three key points: 1) At the core of ethical conduct is trustworthiness, and those with public power or control over resources have a duty to use power entrusted to them responsibly. 2) Integrity lapses, like corruption, are a major cause of societal problems and governance failures. Tax professionals have an important role in upholding high ethical standards. 3) The drivers of unethical behavior include greed, ignorance, fear, and poor systems/culture. Ethics can be taught through codes of conduct, leadership models, case studies, stories, and ensuring accountability. Maintaining integrity

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    33 views15 pages

    PROF TM Tax Professionals Ethical Responsibilities 1 3

    Uploaded by

    Elias Kehayias
    This document summarizes a presentation given to tax professionals about their ethical responsibilities to society. It makes three key points: 1) At the core of ethical conduct is trustworthiness, and those with public power or control over resources have a duty to use power entrusted to them responsibly. 2) Integrity lapses, like corruption, are a major cause of societal problems and governance failures. Tax professionals have an important role in upholding high ethical standards. 3) The drivers of unethical behavior include greed, ignorance, fear, and poor systems/culture. Ethics can be taught through codes of conduct, leadership models, case studies, stories, and ensuring accountability. Maintaining integrity

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    of 15

    TAX PROFESSIONALS’ ETHICAL

    RESPONSIBILITY TO SOCIETY

    Prof Thuli Madonsela


    Thuma Foundation Founder
    Director: Centre For Social Justice and Law Trust Chair Professor In Social Justice
    Presentation to Tax Professionals

    08 August 2023
    OVERVIEW

    Contextualisi
    ng Ethics

    © 2022 Prof Thuli Madonsela


    CONTEXTUALISING ETHICS

    At the core of ethical conduct


    is trustworthiness and those
    who exercise public power and
    control over public resources,
    do so on the basis of entrusted
    power (The fable of Queen
    Nzinga’s Father)
    CONTEXTUAISING ETHICS
    OUR REALITY THE PROMISED LAND
    CONTEXTUALISING ETHICS 52 % = What the richest 10% take of
    global income

    8.5% = What the poorest half take of


    global income

    Wealth inequality is worse

    • .”

    2% is what the poorest 50 % own

    76% is what the richest 10% own

    The to richest got richer during Covid-


    19 with more dollar billionaires created
    [ World Inequality Report 2022)
    LESSONS FROM THE
    INTEGRITY FRONT
    When Ethics fail
    systems fail and things
    fall apart yet it is poor
    systems that are a
    major enabler of
    systems failure
    LESSONS FROM THE
    INTEGRITY FRONT
    Five Propositions
    1. Two of the most pressing challenges of our time are
    climate change and social justice and both have been
    worsened by integrity lapses
    2. Corruption, which is the abuse of entrusted power for
    personal gain or participation in such abuse or
    personal gain, is an injustice that is a dimension of
    social justice
    3. Endemic corruption is a symptom of a systemic
    integrity deficit and public governance faultlines
    4. Integrity Officers such as Tax Professionals have a a
    major responsibility for guardrailing ethics
    5. Ethical lapses are a major cause of fragility
    WHAT IS ETHICS– WHY THIS MATTERS?
    moral principles that govern a person's
    behaviour or the conducting of an activity.
    Oxford Languages
    Many of South Africa’s pressing
    challenges can be traced to integrity
    lapses, from unmanaged conflict of
    interest and other ethical violations to
    corruption, including state capture.
    (E.g. Medupi- Kusile, prioritizing BEE
    over Equality Act, Land Purchases
    such as Malelane, immigration control
    failures, labour standards Systemic integrity lapses drive
    accountability failures and political governance failure and when
    control over bureaucrats and elite
    control over politicians. governance fails, things fall
    apart
    THE RELATIONSHIP
    BETWEEN INTEGRITY,
    ETHICS AND CORRUPTION
    Integrity is a virtue that is expressed through consistent
    ethical conduct while lack of integrity includes all forms of
    dishonesty, including unethical, fraudulent and corrupt
    conduct as well as theft.

    In PP procurement investigations integrity failures


    included, rigged tender processes (On The Point of
    Tenders and Docked Vessels (Collusion)), False
    Billing (Pipes to Nowhere) Overcharging (Against
    The Rules and Against The Rules Too) Overbilling (
    Secure In Comfort) and Conflict of Interest ( This
    Can’t Be Right, A Course In Ethics) and irregular -
    potentially corrupt contracts and payments (Derailed
    and State of Capture). Whistle blower reprisals (
    Secure In Comfort and This Can’t be right)
    THE DRIVERS OF
    INTEGRITY LAPSES

    1. From need to greed and back to


    need (the Guinea Foul Story)
    2. Ignorance
    3. Blackmail
    4. Fear
    5. Poor systems
    6. Culture (Maladmin & impunity)
    7. Small favours
    8. Appointments as a favour beyond
    competence
    9. Exchange of unmerited benefits
    4-9 are only influencing factors and not
    causal drivers of integrity failures
    THE DRIVERS OF
    INTEGRITY LAPSES

    A note on ethical dilemmas

    Sometimes an integrity lapse


    results from a difficult choice
    between competing values or
    virtues
    WAYS OF ANCHORING ETHICS

    (1) Codes of Conduct


    (2) The EPIC Leadership model
    anchored in the EPIC Leadership
    Code, which has 5 pillars, may be
    leveraged to anchor integrity in
    persons, teams and organisations.
    The 5 keys of the EPIC Leadership
    Code are :
    1. Leadership
    2. Ethical,
    3. Purpose driven,
    4. Impact conscious and
    5. Committed to serve all mindful of
    fairness to all and sustainability.
    (3) Identity Shifting and Leadershift (
    Transcending Fragility
    WAYS OF TEACHING ETHICS

    Embedded messages such as the AIR


    principles in all Public Protector
    Speeches

    1. Cases law and Ombudprudence


    2. Popularize integrity instruments
    3. Investigations and Cases Feedback
    loop (GEAC) Decision 2023
    4. Fables
    5. Proverbs
    6. Public discourses, incl. social media
    7. Gaming
    CONCLUSION
    1. Meaning of Integrity
    2. Importance in public sector,
    esp. public procurement:
    Why should we care?
    3. Drivers: Need to greed and
    back
    4. Antidotes: Everyday
    teaching and practice of
    ethics plus indiscriminate
    accountability
    5. The future: The tide is
    turning, particularly
    because of climate change
    and social justice concerns
    We are not the first or last generations to face VUCA while the advantage
    we have is that we stand on the shoulders of giants and have an abundance
    of modern knowledge and technology plus an opportunity to learn from
    nature. We have done better than we give ourselves credit for

    Thank you!
    GRATITUDE Dankie!
    E Nkosi!
    Asante Sana

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