Business Pledge – EY & Amity University

The Pearl Initiative launched the Business Pledge to call upon senior business leaders in the Gulf Region to make a public commitment to adhere to principles of ethical and responsible conduct when carrying out business and interacting with society.
The Business Pledge allows business leaders to showcase their best practices in ethical business conduct while uniting students and business leaders to discuss the four pillars of the Pearl Initiative’s Business Pledge programme.

Acknowledgements

The Pearl Initiative would like to thank the following organisations and individuals for their valuable input, time, and engagement with our programme:
Ernst & Young
Neal Ysart, Director, Ernst & Young
Amity University 
Dr. Geetanjali Chandra
Amity University students

The Pearl Initiative team would also like to extend our gratitude to PepsiCo as supporters of the programme and the Business Pledge Initiative. 

Event Summary  

Event Location: Amity University, Dubai

The Pearl Initiative held a Business Pledge session for Amity University students and delivered by Neal Ysart, Director at Ernst & Young to provide practical examples of how sustainable best practice are applied in business. 

The Business Pledge is designed to connect students with business leaders, affording them the opportunity to learn about the practical aspects surrounding the implementation of sustainable best practices in business.

Speaking on the pillar of ‘Promoting Integrity’, Mr. Ysart initiated the discussion by explaining what integrity means and why integrity matters to business. 

Mr. Ysart went on to discuss an initiative at EY called the “Integrity Agenda.” The “Integrity Agenda” is a framework with four foundational elements, namely: 

1.    Governance
2.    Culture
3.    Controls
4.    Insights

Governance 
The structure of integrity management, encompassing the board, line management and corporate functions and the policies that guide organisational behaviour, vision, mission and ethical obligations.

Culture 
The commitment to integrity that guides decisions across the extended enterprise. This includes open and transparent communication, training and education, codes of conduct, and organisational values. 

Control 
The procedure that embeds integrity into day-to-day operations, preventing and detecting violations of rules and policies. 

Insights  
Data-based insights about emerging risks and integrity performance, driving program effectiveness, and enriching employee knowledge.

The “Integrity Agenda” helps organisations bridge the gap between intentions and behaviour. These four foundational elements help align an individual’s actions with an organisation’s objectives.

Mr. Ysart spoke about narrative integrity analysis by discussing a few examples on how it is used to investigate fraudulent cases of integrity. He concluded the session on the core challenge, which is influencing behaviour over diverse and dispersed employees and third parties amidst intense competitive pressures and rapid technological changes.