審計(jì)師該如何保持與客戶間的安全距離（中英文）
根據(jù)相關(guān)規(guī)定，審計(jì)人員與客戶之間的關(guān)系不得過于親近。否則，這將涉嫌違反審計(jì)獨(dú)立原則。該原則旨在確保審計(jì)公司在審計(jì)過程中保持客觀性和公平性。但是近日，安永合伙人和客戶公司的財(cái)務(wù)總監(jiān)保持著不恰當(dāng)?shù)挠H密關(guān)系。美國證交會因此對其進(jìn)行詳細(xì)調(diào)查，并開出巨額罰單。那么，在審計(jì)工作中，大家應(yīng)該保持怎樣的安全距離呢?下面是yjbys小編為大家?guī)淼年P(guān)于審計(jì)師該如何保持與客戶間的安全距離的知識，歡迎閱讀。
Professionalrelationships: how close is too close
職業(yè)社交：怎樣的距離算是太近?
RolleenMcDonnell，29 September 2016
翻譯：Yue, MengYu, Kat
EY recently made headlines when they came under scrutiny from the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly breaching auditor independence rules, which require a degree of separation between auditors and the companies they audit. Gregory Bednar, a partner at EY, had, according to the SEC, sent hundreds of personal messages to the CFO of its client and they had travelled together with family members for no valid business purpose. Significant fines resulted.
These headlines raise an interesting question as to some of the legal, regulatory and employment law issues that can arise when professional relationships with clients or colleagues become personal.
The client relationship
In the UK, being seen to develop to close a relationship with clients can pose legal risks to the company. For example, auditors in the UK are also under a legal obligation to be independent from the audited entity. There will also potentially be exposure for firms under the Bribery Act if their employees either accepting or offering corporate hospitality inappropriately.
Trips to sporting events or celebratory dinners for business reasons should not pose a problem. However, lavishing extravagant trips or gifts on clients as the result of a personal relationship could create an exposure under the Bribery Act as well as being an act of misconduct on the part of the employee concerned.
Other professional obligations can come into play if advisers develop personal relationships with their clients. For example, whilst there is no professional rule preventing lawyers having relationships with their clients, solicitors owe their clients a fiduciary duty and certain relationships could pose a breach of that duty, such as entering into a personal relationship with a vulnerable client who is going through a divorce.
Relationships at work
Many employers are also concerned about internal relationships between their employees. It is not unheard of for partnerships to operate a "no sibling policy" or "no spouses/partners policy" at recruitment stage to avoid the risk of its partnership placing personal allegiances over the interests of the business. Job applicants are protected against discrimination on the grounds of protected characteristics.
This will not assist a job applicant who is prevented from making an application due to a sibling in the business but the position is not quite so clear with a no spouses/partners policy. Marriage is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act, however, there is conflicting case law as to whether someone will be protected as a result of a marriage or close relationship with a particular person (the wider view), or whether protection will only apply if a person would be treated less favourably because they are married to the person in question, rather than in a long-term co-habiting relationship for example (the narrower view). If the narrower view applies then, providing the policy is appropriately worded, it will be lawful.
There is a distinction to be drawn between not hiring someone because of a personal relationship and dismissing someone because of it (assuming that it had not been improperly concealed). Any snap decision to dismiss an employee on the grounds of personal relationships will be unfair, if that employee has two years' service.
However, employees can be dismissed for "some other substantial reason" under the Employment Rights Act, which can include a breakdown of personal relationships and if these have reached the stage that hostilities have arisen, it may be reasonable to fairly dismiss one of the employees concerned. In this case there is an expectation that employers avoid the dismissal by mediating or reallocating one individual to another team so the larger a firm is, the less likely it is that a dismissal on these grounds would be considered fair.
On a practical level, it may also create practical difficulties if internal relationships are, or are perceived to be causing favouritism. For example, most employers would want to avoid a situation where an individual was deciding their partner’s bonus and sensible measures should be taken to avoid that risk.
Work socials
Whilst work social events are often important for the morale of a team, they also pose business risks. Employers can still be vicariously liable for their employees’ actions at out of hours work social events, including any harassing behaviour. No employer can eliminate this risk but they can minimise it by having clear policies in place and training and dealing with all complaints seriously.
Each workplace and each sector will pose its own challenges for employers, however, it is key for employers to be aware of the potential issues that could result from the stance they take on any form of personal relationship in the workplace and to act promptly and fairly.
安永會計(jì)師事務(wù)所(EY)受到美國證券交易委員會(US Securities Exchange Commission ，簡稱美國證交會或者SEC)的全面審查后，因其違反了審計(jì)獨(dú)立準(zhǔn)則上了頭條。審計(jì)獨(dú)立規(guī)則要求審計(jì)師與被審計(jì)的公司之間在一定程度上相互獨(dú)立。根據(jù)美國證交會的報(bào)告，安永的合伙人格雷戈里•貝特(Gregory Bednar)向其客戶公司的財(cái)務(wù)總監(jiān)發(fā)送了數(shù)百條私人信息。他們在家庭成員陪伴下共同出游，且此次是非商務(wù)的出行。SEC對其處以高額罰款。
各大媒體標(biāo)題都提出了一個(gè)有趣的問題：當(dāng)與客戶的工作合作關(guān)系轉(zhuǎn)為私人關(guān)系后，一些涉及法律法規(guī)和勞動(dòng)條例的問題就會出現(xiàn)。
客戶關(guān)系
在英國，與客戶發(fā)展親密關(guān)系可能會被視為對公司造成潛在法律風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。例如，英國的審計(jì)師有獨(dú)立于被審計(jì)單位的法律義務(wù)。如果他們的員工接受或提供不恰當(dāng)?shù)恼写聞?wù)所也有可能涉嫌違反《賄賂法》。
出于商業(yè)原因參加體育賽事或慶祝晚宴應(yīng)該不是問題。然而，出于私人關(guān)系而給客戶贈送奢侈旅行優(yōu)惠或禮品，可能會違反《賄賂法》。企業(yè)如果錯(cuò)誤地指揮員工做同樣的事，也會涉嫌違法。
如果咨詢顧問與客戶發(fā)展私人關(guān)系，其他的專業(yè)義務(wù)也需要履行。例如，雖然沒有專業(yè)的準(zhǔn)則防止律師與客戶發(fā)展關(guān)系，律師對他們的客戶仍有受托責(zé)任，而某些關(guān)系可能違反這一義務(wù)(比如與一個(gè)正在經(jīng)歷離婚的脆弱的客戶發(fā)展私人關(guān)系)。
工作關(guān)系
很多雇主也關(guān)注他們的員工之間的內(nèi)部關(guān)系。在招聘階段實(shí)行“無同胞政策”或說“無配偶政策”以防止其合伙人把個(gè)人關(guān)系置于企業(yè)利益之上。這并非沒有先例。求職者會受到保護(hù)，被保證不受這一“保護(hù)政策”的歧視。
對于那些因?yàn)橛袩o配偶政策而受到限制的求職者來說，這種保護(hù)不能起到作用，因?yàn)檫@些條例不會在職位要求中被明晰地列出。 婚姻受到《平等法》的保護(hù)。然而，判例法中對于一些問題有相互矛盾的地方：廣泛來說，問題在于一個(gè)人是否會因其與某人的婚姻或親密關(guān)系而理應(yīng)得到保護(hù);狹義上來說，問題在于法律是否應(yīng)該只在一種情況下起到保護(hù)作用，即如果只有一個(gè)人因其婚姻而不是長期同居關(guān)系而受到不平等的對待。如果狹義的觀點(diǎn)適用，而且政策被指定表述，那就是合法的。
因私人關(guān)系而不受聘用和因此被解雇之間是有差別的(假設(shè)，這一事實(shí)沒有被不當(dāng)隱匿)。如果一個(gè)雇員提供了兩年的工作服務(wù)，任何以私人關(guān)系為借口突然解雇他/她的決定都是不公平的.。
然而，雇員可以根據(jù)《就業(yè)權(quán)利法》中規(guī)定的“一些其他實(shí)質(zhì)性理由”被解雇。這些理由就可以包括私人關(guān)系破裂。如果這些行為引起了相互敵視，解雇有關(guān)雇員可能是公平合理的。在這種情況下，我們認(rèn)為雇主應(yīng)避免通過中介解雇雇員，或者將其重新分配給另一團(tuán)隊(duì)。所以對于越大的公司來說，認(rèn)為以這些理由解雇員工合理公平的可能性就越小。
在實(shí)務(wù)層面上，如果內(nèi)部關(guān)系是或者被認(rèn)為是會造成偏袒，這也可能造成實(shí)際困難。例如，對于大多數(shù)雇主想要避免某個(gè)人決定他們伴侶獎(jiǎng)金的情況，應(yīng)該采取明智有效的措施避免這種風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。
工作社交
雖然工作中的社交活動(dòng)對鼓舞員工士氣往往很重要，但它們也構(gòu)成潛在商業(yè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。雇主仍然可以為其雇員在非工作時(shí)間的社交活動(dòng)中的行為(包括任何騷擾行為)承擔(dān)法律責(zé)任。沒有雇主可以消除這種風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，但他們可以通過明確的政策、訓(xùn)練和對抱怨的嚴(yán)肅處理使風(fēng)險(xiǎn)最小化。
雇主在每個(gè)工作場所或者每個(gè)部門都將受到挑戰(zhàn)。然而，清楚地意識到他們在工作場所發(fā)展任何形式的個(gè)人關(guān)系所導(dǎo)致的潛在問題，并能迅速公平的處理對雇主來說是很關(guān)鍵的。
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