Code of conduct: Level of adherence to the IBGC recommendations by the companies listed on BM&FBOVESPA

Abstract

The conjugation of ethics and corporate governance may be a decisive factor for business success. As guidelines, codes of conduct or codes of ethics demonstrate the moral and ethical behaviors desirable in the business environment. As a part of the best practices of corporate governance, the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC) recommends that organizations should elaborate their own code of conduct. In this context, the paper aims to investigate the level of adherence to the IBGC recommendations by the companies listed on BM&FBovespa for the development of their codes of business conduct. For this purpose, the authors collected data available at the websites of the 166 companies that make up the research sample. Statistic tests (Anacor) were applied to evaluate the association between the companies’ level of adherence to the IBGC code and their listing segment at BM&FBovespa as well as the association between their level of adherence to the IBGC code and their respective sector of activity. The data analysis did not confirm the initial hypothesis that the three different levels of corporate governance show a higher level of adherence. The analysis by sector of activity partially confirmed the hypothesis that regulated sectors have a higher level of adherence to the IBGC recommendations.

Key words: ethics, code of conduct, corporate governance.