In the past, I have talked about the difficulties companies have implementing codes of ethics.It could be argued that Enron, Parmalat and WorldCom are examples of the spectacular failure of the ethical dimension of business. Let's not forget, they all had codes of ethics. But any analysis of the major corporate collapses of the last decade highlights how unethical corporate behavior is generally a symptom of a wider unethical organizational culture. It was the organizational context itself that encouraged employees to behave in inappropriate ways.

That's what interested me in the latest study by CFO Europe Research Services and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, reported here, which found that more than 90 percent of companies have gone to the trouble of writing an ethics policy, but few have processes in place to make sure it is being followed.

The interesting part about the study was that chief financial officers in the US were well ahead of their peers in Europe when it came to establishing codes of ethics and whistleblower policies. No doubt that has a lot to do with Sarbanes-Oxley.

Still, the findings suggest that management and boards don't put too much priority on ethics. And it's particularly damning of boards because only boards can demand accountability of the executives they appoint.