Major whistleblowing stories are never far away from front page news, and although cases such as WikiLeaks, Panama papers and Cambridge Analytica are infamous, the way these first came to light and what ensued for those who dared to speak up is seldom recognised.

The price for speaking out can be dire – intimidation, harassment and bullying, blighted career prospects and financial ruin.

More recently yet, a June 2019 report from the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Whistleblowing1 - formed with the stated objectives to ‘provide stronger protection for whistleblowers’ and ‘not only aiming to change the current legislation but also the culture and perception of whistleblowers’ - calls for an urgent and radical overhaul of whistleblowing law.

As far as the accounting profession is concerned, CAs have become trusted business advisers, over and above solely operating the mechanics of financial management and reporting. As such, they are often privy to, and assessors of, closely guarded information. Most of this information will be legal and legitimate, but some will also indicate fraud and other unethical practices.

When this is the case, as stated by ICAS The Power of One business ethics initiative, “individuals, and particularly CAs, should have the confidence to speak out and influence the culture of organisations in which they work.”

If raising issues internally is not appropriate, maybe due to the fact that senior management are those perpetrating the fraud, then whistleblowing becomes of the essence. In this context, this ICAS research publication records the second stage of a two-stage research project funded by ICAS - “Speak up? Listen up? Whistleblow?" -  commissioned with the aim of examining how ICAS members respond to ethical dilemmas.

The first stage of the research, documented in the ICAS publication “Speak up? Listen up? Whistleblow? A Survey of ICAS Members”, consisted of a review of academic literature on speaking up, listening up, and whistleblowing, ethics and organisational culture, which then formed the basis of a questionnaire survey of ICAS members.

For this second stage, 48 interviews were conducted, primarily with ICAS members but others too to provide a more rounded view, to gain a deeper understanding of interviewees’ real-life ethical dilemmas and actions, and in particular their speak up, listen up and whistleblowing responses to those dilemmas. 

The research found that a wide range of ethical dilemmas, from technical to behavioural issues, are very likely to be experienced throughout careers, that early experiences influence the approach to subsequent dilemma resolution, and that speaking up is not always easy for individuals or welcomed by organisations.

Consequently, recommendations include the need for organisations to emphasise good behavioural expectations and strive to establish a culture that listens to, supports and encourages speaking up; the importance for individuals to develop and maintain a professional network for support; and the need for ICAS to consider how support for members experiencing isolation can be improved.