Corporate leaders aware of corruption, do little about it, says survey

According to the survey, which interviewed leaders, managers and owners of 300 companies with at least HUF 250 million revenues operating in Hungary, local company heads still have controversial feelings about corruption. Some 54% of the questioned leaders said they believe corruption takes place in Hungarian business life, but that their companies are not involved in such cases, while 12% said they would accept or consider a corrupt offer. At the same time, 94% of the surveyed leaders said that no ethical breaches have taken place at their companies in the past five years. 

Pinpointing a positive change in practices, EY notes that currently 54% of the surveyed Hungarian companies have a code of ethics, a 20% improvement compared to last year’s results.

“Based on our experiences, while a code of ethics is a rapid tool to be established for preventing mismanagement in a company, without a control environment and continuous communication, it cannot be a miracle alone,” said Lívia Fábián, a senior manager in Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services at EY Hungary.

Some 61.3% of the questioned leaders said they trust their employees without controls in terms of not leaking confidential business information, the survey shows.