Legal and regulatory initiatives over the past half-decade have aimed to reform companies from the outside. But while compliance with accounting and governance initiatives can be tracked, it is harder to describe the relationship between codified ethics and practical actions. Put another way, it is not possible to legislate ethical behavior.

In April 2006, CFO Asia Research Services, in collaboration with ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) launched a research program to explore the role of the CFO in forging this link. What benefits do CFOs see flowing from a strong company culture on governance and ethics, and do they view themselves as the drivers of good ethics in their company? How do their own views sit with their company’s commitment to developing an ethical culture?

This report sheds light on these issues and explores the growing awareness among Asian companies of the business benefits of strong governance and ethics. It presents the findings of a survey of more than 160 CFOs and senior finance executives from mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia and Singapore. The questionnaire-based research has been supplemented with in-depth case study interviews with executives at six companies spanning a range of industries, corporate structures and locations.