Ethics and Compliance - Starbucks

Ethics and Compliance: Starbucks

Starbucks opened its first store in 1971 in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market and has grown to 15,000 stores in 50 countries. Starbucks goal as a company has always been to be a different type of company, which is evident from its mission “to inspire and nurture the human spirit- one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time”(Starbucks, 2010). Starbucks is committed to ethical behavior from its community involvement, its recycling efforts and its employee training in ethics. Starbucks is in compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 which drives accountability and transparency of key processes within the company. Starbucks employees are non-disclosed when it comes to the securities of Starbucks, each employee and stock holder has access to material considered as non-public and are required to keep this information confidential.

Role of Ethics and Compliance in Financial Environment

It is necessary to do more than review an organization’s policies on ethics and values. Compliance with the standards that are written in the policies is prudent for the organization to be ethical. A company or organization can not be successful long term if it is not ethically complying with its policies. Conducting business in an ethical manner and always trying to do what is right is the key to Starbucks’ success according to its (2010) website. Starbucks has three commitments that are ethically sourcing coffee, community involvement, and environmental awareness that it adheres to for it to be ethically compliant.

Issues and concerns that stakeholders have with Starbucks being compliant with SEC regulations as well as general company concerns are covered in the fiscal reports generated. Starbucks ensures that these issues and its three commitments are addressed in the fiscal reports. The Starbucks company website provides to anyone visibility to their policies on diversity in the workplace, sourcing, stewardship in the...