Developing a code of ethics means recognising the gaps between what the law says and what the individual or company believes is acceptable. “This is where tribunals come in,” Paul Connolly explains. “A company might think – if we went to court on this, we’d win. The issue is that ethics is rarely a clear-cut case of yes or no.” If the employee is worried or thinks something is not quite right, what should they do? “They need to know that they can challenge the employer,” Connolly says. “And morally, you need to report the correct figures,” adds Aimee Johnson. “At the end of the day, you just have to stand up to management even though it can be difficult.”

History offers valuable lessons in the importance not just of having a code of ethics in place, but sticking to it. In 2000, Enron was on Fortune’s ‘100 best companies to work for in America’ list. Within a year it was bankrupt. In essence, Enron’s fraudulent accounting practices involved concealing debts to make the books appear robust. But a key part of the cover-up was that between 1996 and 2000, Enron reported an increase in sales from $13.3 billion to a remarkable $100.8 billion. This revenue “was based on its exploitation of a loophole in accounting rules that allowed it to book revenue from huge energy-derivative contracts at their gross value, not their net value as is done with other securities transactions,” Dan Ackman wrote in Forbes Magazine not long after the scandal broke. In other words, what Enron was doing with its sales reporting was not, technically, illegal. To prevent scandals like Enron happening, company culture needs to recognise when something is ethically wrong – even though it may be acceptable on paper.