The Católica Porto Business School will host an open class (in webinar format) as part of the fourth edition of the Executive Programme in Ethics, Compliance and Whistleblowing in Organisations, entitled “How to audit an ethics programme?”
Date: 6 November
Time: 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Format: Online (via Zoom), open to the general public
The session will feature the programme coordinators Helena Gonçalves (also Coordinator of the Ethics Forum at Católica Porto Business School) and José Ricardo Gonçalves (Partner at RBMS, Law Firm). They will be joined by Aníbal Magalhães, Head of the Compliance and Audit Unit at LIPOR, to discuss the importance of designing an audit programme applied to an ethics programme.
According to Aníbal Magalhães, who is also an alumnus of the Executive Course Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, “a living ethics programme is one that inspires behaviour, protects the vulnerable, guides the undecided and challenges the conformist. Internal audit, by examining it with rigour and sensitivity, ensures it does not become an empty document, but remains a source of trust and a driver of cultural transformation.”
He adds: “Internal audit, with independence and objectivity, is responsible for verifying whether the ethics programme is well designed, properly implemented, and above all, effectively embedded in the organisational culture.”
José Ricardo Gonçalves highlights the importance of the whistleblower protection law (Law 93/2021) for “creating legally framed environments conducive to the development of an ethical climate within organisations.”
Helena Gonçalves stresses that “the areas of ethics and compliance are complementary and mutually reinforcing, but that their differences must be clearly communicated internally to strengthen the ethical culture.”