The gulf of trust

As we settle into the new year, it’s the traditional time for the PR giant Edelman to serve up bad news in its annual Edelman Trust Barometer. And 2025 is no exception though, in all fairness, the results are not a massive surprise.

The majority of people polled hold a grievance against the government, the rich and business. Spain has the highest distrust, at 72%; Singapore the best at 39%. UK citizens are at the high end with 70%, only just behind Nigeria and South Africa. Germany and France are not doing not much better on 69%.

That said, of the group sectors NGOs, media and government, only business is viewed globally as both ethical and competent.

NGOs are, at least, seen as ethical but the media (yours truly) and government are considered “less competent” and “unethical”.

But business cannot rest on its laurels. The majority of people with a grievance want business to do more. More about affordability, climate change, retraining and misinformation. That’s a big agenda for CEOs and boards to tackle. Certainly it suggests business is once again being asked to fill the vacuum left by politicians. We are sure this will end well.

Under scrutiny

KPMG has come to attention of UK regulators, this time over the audit of Entain, owner of betting firms Coral and Ladbrokes, for work on the audit in 2022.

The investigation, by the Financial Reporting Council, follows a £585m penalty imposed on the company by HMRC in 2023 following an investigation into alleged bribery at a former Turkish subsidiary.

KPMG says it is cooperating.

Wanted: ethical leadership

Trump is back in office, if you hadn’t noticed, and the world is braced for whatever may come. Mike Tuffrey, a trustee at the Institute of Business Ethics, writes that this is the time for corporate leaders to stick with their values and ethical standards.

“Now is the time to double down on values-based decision-making, with clear and consistent ethical leadership, soundly rooted in long-standing culture.

“For sure, leaders will upset some groups when making difficult decisions.

“The issue is whether stakeholders—above all your employee teams—can understand and appreciate the basis for that decision, even if they disagree, and so keep on performing. In crazy times, predictability at work is going to be even more prized.”

In other words, stay calm and do the thing.

Resilience required

There is work to be done by AIM-listed and large private companies on their sustainability disclosures, according to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC).

In a review of the first year of reporting for these businesses, some failed to provide any analysis of their climate resilience, or provided material that fell short of being company specific. Only half of the companies tested provided disclosures on progress against climate-related targets and some companies provided no explanation of how climate risks and disclosures were identified.

The FRC says in its report: “As expected, it was evident from our review that this was the first time most companies in our selection had prepared [climate-related financial disclosures] for an external audience.”