The value of a business is no longer measured exclusively by its financial or operational performance. Nowadays, customers, business partners and investors are paying more attention to the way organizations carry out their processes. They are not focused only on the final product but also on how the company stablishes relations with third parties and makes them beneficial to everyone, how it adds value and are free of risk for their operation in a direct or indirect way (contagion risk).

The corporate image is the most valuable intangible asset an organization has, any reputational damage caused by dishonest acts or those perceived as against fair competitiveness can reduce a company’s margin or even close their doors. Therefore, it is important that all businesses, no matter their size, design and implement controls that allow them to prevent, identify and manage any event that can compromise their operations.

Transparency and ethics programs are a helpful tool that enhances organizations performance and helps them reduce the probability of corruption acts within their operations. These programs are a guide to identify the exposure to these risks, adopt appropriate controls, implement corporate policies, make sensibilization campaigns and design the response mechanisms in case an event of this kind occurs. In addition, to maintain an ethical and transparency public image increases competitiveness and helps stablish better relations with third parties.

Here are some advantages of having transparency and ethics programs within the organization:

Builds trust in relations: customers, investors, and strategic partners can be confident of being related to a responsible, reliable, and conscientious company, this enhances competitiveness, making it a differential factor and maybe even a positioning strategy.

Ethical environment: For a company, to define their values, the expected behavior from their employees, investors, and other related parties, as well as the guidelines to respond to eventual damaging acts, promotes an ethical environment to perform operations and creates, in part, a shield from unknown illegal activities or those against fair competitiveness made by third parties.

Employees as strategic allies: employees are prouder and feel more supported by a company that puts in place ethical programs and that base their operations in transparency principles. The employees will feel more comfortable of reporting potential damaging acts for the company if they know that they have organizational support.

Economic sanctions: transparency and ethical programs put in place, can be used, in specific cases, as a mitigation when a company faces an economical sanction because of a related corruption or foreign bribery act within their operations.

Responsible behavior: when a company is related to a corruption event, the way it responds, not only to justify itself, but to be transparent and open to public opinion is key to maintaining their value. Therefore, to put in place transparency and ethical programs allows to follow clear protocols to respond and mitigate the negative reputational damage caused by a public scandal.

Government procurement: Colombian state entities cannot hire services or products from companies sanctioned because of corruption acts, therefore, to have controls in place as well as transparency and ethical programs is a very important factor when a procurement is ongoing.

In conclusion, having in place transparency and ethical programs not only increases internal compliance rates, considering that Colombian Laws 1778 of 2016 and 2195 of 2022 strongly urge companies to stablish internal policies and programs to be conscious of their role in the Colombian fight against corruption, but also has a lot of advantages for those who decide to adopt them as good practices such as the strengthening of their competitive capacity, stablishing a better profile for their customers and providers as well as converting into a good market referent.