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As a result of corporate malpractice and clear guidance given by a number of committees set up by major private sector institutions, risk, reputation and trust are high on the boardroom agenda. The principal way of addressing the issues is through statements of corporate values and their application through codes of business ethics. These alone are not enough to make any difference – they have to become part of the way staff think and act. Having such a programme has been shown not only to be morally right but also worthwhile.

The past decade has witnessed a heated debate in the Western industrial nations about whether or not large companies should accept broader social obligations commensurate with their great power. This debate has been useful in highlighting the social pressures to which large companies are being subjected. It has also served to stimulate interest in the possibility of a wider, stakeholder ethos for guiding management decision‐making. The restricted profit‐making role historically assigned to business has been challenged in favour of a more radical alternative, which acknowledges that companies have responsibilities to all their stakeholders—employees, customers and the community—as well as shareholders. And as the debate has progressed, a whole new range of potential management functions have developed, concerned with monitoring social pressures, measuring company social performance by means of social audits and guiding management decision‐making through codes of conduct.

Businesses cannot ignore ethics. Indeed, for some ethics has been added to their corporate values. But help is needed by businesses in integrating ethical practices and competencies. Initially this requires an increased and shared understanding of ethics in business. Three possible approaches are explained and explored, viz; social, transcendental and tactical. The case for ethics in business is made by highlighting the consequences of potential dilemmas between individual and organisation values. The role of ethics in being emotionally intelligent is explored. Specifically, aspects of emotional intelligence are considered in the context of leaders experiencing day‐to‐day ethical challenges. Finally, the challenge to trainers is highlighted in tackling what can be a major transformational process for organisations.

Socially responsible investment (SRI): selection of investment portfolios with regard to ethical and social criteria in addition to conventional financial considerations, is often considered to bring reduced financial performance, although empirical evidence is inconclusive. Five possible sources of divergence in the performance of socially responsible and conventional investments have been proposed in the literature, and are further examined here. Two proposed mechanisms (the ‘anticipation effect’ and the ‘positive selection effect’) describe firms in which investment is potentially made. Since such opportunities are available to all investors, these are unlikely sources of systematic divergence. Concern (the ‘diversification effect’) that SRI constraints prevent adequate portfolio diversification is shown to be ill founded. The greater proportion of smaller companies in SRI portfolios links to an ongoing debate regarding the ‘small companies effect’, in which smaller companies have at times appeared to have superior (and more recently, inferior) performance, while other studies suggest that this is merely an artefact of the methodology used. It is argued that none of the above provides a basis for expectations of inferior SRI performance. Furthermore, SRI portfolio managers gather additional company information and also increasingly engage in dialogue with companies. It is argued that this ‘information effect’ is a possible source of superior SRI performance.

Some charitable organisations market third‐party gifts, in which some good, for example a goat, is given to a developing world beneficiary and at the same time is a present to a recipient in the developed world. Little is known about whether such gifts are successful as presents and whether these are a good charitable marketing device. This paper seeks to examine this issue.

Two studies investigated attitudes towards, and beliefs about, such gifts in possible and actual donors and recipients.

Third‐party gifts often make acceptable presents, depending on the recipient and occasion. Gifts of specific goods are preferred to gifts of money, particularly when the benefit to the developing world beneficiary is considered. Such gifts also inspire a reasonable degree of trust.

It is not clear how much benefit beneficiaries receive from third‐party gifts or why donors prefer to give specific goods as gifts.

Third‐party gifts appear to be a successful marketing tool and a means by which poverty can be reduced.

This research extends and combines previous research on gifting to the third‐party gift‐giving process and offers charities some insights into how they might use this process to facilitate donations.

This paper aims to discuss the role of accounting, accountants and the cash management processes of indigenous Māori and Pacific (collectively referred as Polynesian) entrepreneurs in New Zealand.

A qualitative research methodology was used; 43 in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with Polynesian entrepreneurs, key informants, business experts and accountants to align with the oral Polynesian traditions and protocols.

The paper highlights the influence of cultural values on Polynesians’ accounting decision-making processes. It also provides some unique insights into the interrelationships of the cultural, economic and social dynamics that sculpt Polynesians’ decisions towards accounting, cash management and their accountants.

Purposive sampling of a small sample was drawn from Auckland, New Zealand. Though statistical generalisability is not possible, in-depth interview data provided rich and contextual evidence which are often missing from a quantitative research approach.

It highlights the need for contextualised accounting services to Polynesian entrepreneurs by the accounting profession. It also calls for more cultural sensitivity when servicing and regulating Polynesian entrepreneurs.

This study identifies some unique insights into the interrelationships of culture, economic and social dynamics in Polynesian entrepreneurs. In particular, the cultural values of communality, reciprocity and “gift-giving” and respect for authority are important factors in shaping the Polynesians’ approach to accounting disposition and business cash management. It also identifies the power differentials between Polynesian entrepreneurs and their accountants, in which the former takes on a subordinate role to the latter.