Part 1 (15% – 1,200 words)
Assessment Criteria:
Demonstration of knowledge of the issues and evidence of wide reading to support
your analysis
Demonstration of your ability to apply the knowledge to identify keys issues leading
to your recommendations
Evidence of sound reasoning and the exercise of professional judgement to support
your recommendations
Development and statement of concise recommendations for presentation to the AII
Overall structure and professional presentation of your report to the ASA
High quality written communication of concepts and terms in ordinary English as the
report will be published on the ASA web site and not all readers can be assumed to
be professionally competent in corporate governance
‘There are many examples in Australia of whistleblowers being retrenched or punished for being brave
enough to reveal issues in the public interest.
It is unfortunate but not uncommon for whistleblowers to be forced to take costly actions through the
courts or Fair Work Commission after losing their jobs.
The move to uncover best practice in whistleblowing in the private sector is timely given the recent
high-profile scandals at Target and CommInsure as well as the allegations of a broken corporate
culture which was raised during Labor’s call for a royal commission into financial services.
Whistleblowers revealed unethical behaviour at the Westfarmers-owned discount
department store Target and at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia subsidiary CommInsure. The
Target case involved an unknown person in the accounts department tipping off management about
the use of supplier rebates to create about $20 million in additional profits in the half year to
December.
Seven people have been sacked following that disclosure and former Target CEO Stuart Machin has
left Westfarmers while denying all knowledge of what happened.
In the CommInsure case, chief medical officer Benjamin Koh claimed doctors were pressured to
change medical reports, patient’s files were deleted and claims delayed as part of a strategy to avoid
policy pay-outs. Koh lost his job for breaching CBA’s IT policy relating to taking client files home. But at
this stage it would appear his actions have been vindicated given that CBA chief executive Ian Narev
has apologised for what happened’.
Tony Boyd ‘ASIC backs whistleblower project’, The Australia Financial Review, Friday 15 April 2016 p.40
Required
Assume you have been employed as a corporate governance consultant by the Australian
Shareholders Association (ASA). The ASA is concerned with the risks associated with investments in
corporations that do not have a ‘best practice’ whistleblower policy. In order to minimise this risk the
ASA wants to know what are the best-practice contemporary standards for whistleblower policies.
Your assignment is to prepare a report to be published on the ASA web site recommending bestpractice whistleblower policy for adoption by listed companies on the Australian stock exchange.
