Our Governance

To ensure that the brand, and all that it stands for, is not compromised in any way, Deloitte has a Reputation and Risk Leader who has the overall responsibility of preserving the firm’s reputation.

The responsibility for the management of risk is also assumed by each partner and director of the firm, who are assisted in their tasks by a network of risk leaders and teams within each of the firm’s service lines, while the global firm continues to extend the nature of risk, independence and ethics requirements for member firms.

This is accompanied by training, monitoring and reporting elements with which all Deloitte member firms around the world must comply.

By extending our internal risk assessment practices to our clients, we ensure that Deloitte only provides services to clients that are ethical. Providing services to clients who are unethical exposes the firm to both reputation and brand damage.

Partners and directors therefore consider and classify the risk of serving clients, either existing or new, on an annual basis. Where risk is considered to be high, the firm either resigns from an account, or declines business.

Our ethical framework

Deloitte is committed to the highest levels of ethics, integrity, and quality. This is evidenced by our business practices and client service standards, our leadership behaviour and shared values, and most importantly, by the quality of people we employ. In fact, ethics, integrity and quality are at the core of all that we do.

Our Ethical Principles define the standards of ethical behaviour that unite all our people. In particular, they offer guidance about appropriate professional conduct covering such issues as objectivity, confidentiality, and competence. The behaviours these principles elicit will enhance and maintain the integrity and reputation of our firm as the premier global professional services firm. It is important to note that while these principles provide a foundation for ethical decision-making, they do not cover all the situations we may face on a daily basis. When faced with difficult choices, personal integrity and responsibility must be our guide. It is during those times that we are encouraged to seek advice and counsel from our leaders and colleagues, and work together to make the right choices.

Our Ethical Principles apply to all our people and we use the term "we" to mean all partners, directors, professionals and administrative staff no matter what country or function we reside in. Deloitte partners, directors and staff have an obligation to know, understand and adhere to not only these principles, but also the shared values on which they are founded. We have the responsibility to encourage our leaders and colleagues to do the same.

Our Shared Values are at the heart of our Ethical Principles and the relationship between them is simple: Our Shared Values define the underlying beliefs that tie our global firm together, and our Ethical Principles further define the specific standards of behaviour that we expect of our leaders and our people. Each Ethical Principle maps directly back to our Shared Values helping to reinforce and sustain behaviour that reflects those values. They are, in fact, our values in action.