The business environment, ethics and corporate governance

This book is about business reporting for decision making. It is therefore important to understand the commercial environment within which businesses operate and the responsibilities of those who make business decisions. This chapter addresses these issues. Firstly various regulatory authorities, the accounting profession and various business interest groups are reviewed. This is followed by a discussion of ethics and corporate governance. Ethics is central to the study of business. The business world has control of the world’s resources and makes decisions every day that affect those resources and millions of people. It is imperative that those who operate within it have an understanding of various philosophies of humankind to help guide their decision making. The ultimate decision making control of any business is its corporate governance. The corporate governance practices of today need to be in line with ethical and societal expectations. It is essential that those entering the business world have a good understanding of accepted corporate governance practices