Ethics and Compliance Paper

Intense competition and global business environment have marked an era of global competitive repositioning. Competing demands are often beyond the knowledge and skills of individual companies. Search for innovative ways of achieving market success is evident in all areas of business activity. Public relations plan as continuous activity to establish and maintain good relations and mutual understanding between the organization and its audiences: customers, employees, shareholders, trade, suppliers, government and the whole society. Our team designed this paper to discuss Wal-Mart Corporation, and what role ethics and compliance play in such a big organization also we would like to discuss what are the actions used to ensure ethical behavior, how Wal-Mart comply with SEC regulations and what is the process and also we will show in this paper review of Wal-Mart's financial performance over the last two years.

Role of Ethics and Compliance of Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Corporation can be very proud of its deviations ethics, regulations and standards. Wal-Mart's strategies, performance ratings in their annual reports, press releases are available to the public and their potential and current shareholders.

When we talk about ethics and finance Wal-Mart demands that the chief executive officer (CEO) and senior financial officer (SFO) must provide fair, full and understandable, financial reports, which will later be inspected by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).CEO and SFOs of Wal-Mart are accountable to report information that might be in regard to deficits in operations in precise or common areas that could have a negative impact on the exact exposure of financial data.

In the event where fraud can occurs, even one which includes associates who might do something unethical , that act should be reported to SFO's, CEO or any other corporate manager so they can follow the appropriate disciplinary actions to easier solve the problems. Wal-Mart is trying to ensure in every possible way that all parties including law firms, suppliers, accountants and consultants act ethically and follow the ethical codes of Wal-Mart Corporation.

Wal-Mart has a strong belief in the "open-door policy" and they encourage all of their employees and associates to feel free to speak with their managers when a possible financial or ethical issue is seen within the organization. Wal-Mart also has a Global Ethics Helpline available 24 hours a day for individuals to make a call and report incidents when they realize that the integrity and ethics of their organization is at risk. All employees at Wal-Mart no matter what level they are and what position they hold in company to be involved and able to express concerns of compromised financial ethics, Wal-Mart strengthens its mandate of following set ethical and moral values of the Corporation.

The financial ethics of Wal-Mart cannot only be at risk by outside forces but also by employee dishonesty. If an employee is ethically dishonest, his or her actions can certainly have a negative effect on the Corporation. Employee theft is the number one reason for dismissal from the workplace. When an employee steals from his/her employer, not only does the store take a loss; the organization, other employees, and consumers do, too. This is because Wal-Mart has to raise prices on products to make up for loss because of financial ethic dishonesty. The Wal-Mart Organization takes its ethical responsibilities in earnest and does not tolerate the violation of its ethical code of conduct.

Wal-Mart's Ethical Procedure

Wal-Mart has created a Statement of Ethics that all employees are to follow. The Statement of Ethics is in place to ensure that their employees are provided with set guidelines and information as to how they are able to report ethical concerns. Employees are to read the information that is provided to them. It is extremely important that the employees have a clear understanding of the Statement of Ethics because this will set the attitudes and the moral of the workplace. Wal-Mart is a firm believer in having a fair and honest place to work, which is why integrity is such an important factor. Employees are strongly encouraged to report any suspected violation of the code of ethics. For this reason it is crucial that all employees know