Hands up who is less ethical than average?

It is not often I get to make a presentation during an event book-ended by the excellent Dame Margaret Hodge and Flora Page KC.

So I had to make the most of my short slot at the ICAEW's Global Ethics Day event, to grab attention in the mid afternoon lull.

https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2025/nov-2025/applying-the-building-blocks-of-ethical-culture

Upon being challenged in my intro, (unsurprisingly) no-one in the audience volunteered to being less ethical than average.

OK, it was a room full of accountants, so perhaps the distribution curve of morality was skewed, the attendees were shy, or they sensed little upside in volunteering.

Or perhaps, like wider society, their responses were influenced by the Better-Than-Average-Effect where, fuelled by motivated reasoning and a distorted view of our own morality, we see ourselves as more ethical than the norm.

Yet Dame Margaret Hodge noted the role accountants played as enablers in some corruption cases, and Flora Page KC covered the (less than stellar) role of finance and audit professionals in the Post Office scandal.

I recounted a dilemma of rushing to catch a train from Kent, and where there is no guard from whom to buy a ticket. The barriers are open at Charing Cross. Would you approach the ticket office to pay for the journey? The majority would walk off into the streets.

It was also noted that attending the ethics event, in person or live-stream would contribute up to 4 hours of verifiable CPD training. Hopefully no-one was sitting at home, logged-in & claiming this credit whilst working on other things.

As I covered in my talk, it behoves us all to understand these cognitive traps and the things that will influence our behaviour for good or ill.

This applies to everyone: the public and their presidents, royalty and commoners, artists and accountants.

And if an approach to corporate or professional ethics is theatre, ticking the boxes but not taking into account how we have a rose tinted view of ourselves, and the variety of factors that influence our behaviour, then is that approach to ethics itself unethical?

𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦. 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘊𝘈𝘌𝘞 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵.