In a report by The Guardian earlier this week, Deloitte is being fined ￡14 million after they were found to have “failed to meet ethical and public interest standards”. In addition, “Maghsoud Einollahi, a former director of the accountancy firm, was fined £250,000 and given a three-year ban from accountancy” – a severe penalty for failing “to consider a conflict of interest in which the firm benefited from the schemes devised by the Phoenix Four”.
This issue brings up the topic of a business’s corporate social responsibility. People depend on firms like Deloitte for accurate work and put their trust in what they do. It is evident that one mistake deemed unethical can have harsh consequences, as Deloitte has learned, but at the same time, how much emphasis should corporations put on being socially responsible given that most aim to make a profit?
After reading “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits” by Milton Friedman and this article, it seems that businesses may have to be socially responsible as they depend on society to survive. However, it also seems that CSR can rarely be a priority without ulterior motives e.g. avoiding fines like the one Deloitte has incurred.