BUSINESS FORUM: A good name is better than riches

NATIONS and the business world have developed several corporate governance codes to improve and encourage integrity, transparency and good ethics.  
Some of good corporate governance quotes can be found in the Bible. Proverbs 22 vs 1 and 2 say, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favour rather than silver and gold. The rich and the poor have this in common, the Lord is the maker of them all”.
Integrity, reputation and honesty have greater value than just money.
As we start 2016, it is important to ensure that we make clean money.
Taking bribes and dirty dealings should not be tolerated in Zimbabwe.
The effects of such behaviours are catastrophic to the nation.
Another verse in the Bible, 1 Timothy 6 vs 10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”.
The love of money can result in massive corruption. This is the cause of troubles affecting many African nations, including Zimbabwe.
For decades, Africans have been trying to fight corruption and little progress has been made.
Corruption is still a cancer affecting businesses.
My view is that good governance should be taught in schools or else this curse will remain in Africa for generations to come.
Corruption favours the most connected and unscrupulous, rather than the efficient and creates entry barriers in the market for those without such connections.
Favours are sought for inefficient subsidies, monopoly benefits or regulatory oversight, rather than productive activity.
Bribes also lead to a misdirection of resources which in turn leads to poor-quality projects.
Further, since corrupt payments are usually done in secrecy, they are more likely to be used in the same way, driving the proceeds of illegal transactions into foreign bank accounts.
Such capital flight costs national growth.
In the long-term, corruption has potentially “explosive consequences”, including widening income inequalities within cities and between city and countryside; and creating a new, highly visible class of “socialist millionaires”, which further fuels resentment from the citizenry.
In China, President Xi Jinping is on a massive drive to clean up corruption. Upon taking office, President Xi vowed to crack down on “tigers and flies”, that is, high-level officials and lower-level civil servants involved in corruption.
As of 2015, over 100 000 people had been indicted for corruption, with over 100 high-ranking officials, including about a dozen high-ranking military officers, several senior executives of state-owned companies and four national leaders having been netted.
The result of the drive is amazing. Bloomberg revealed that China is the fastest growing economy in the world.
China also remains the fastest-growing G-20 nation, even though the Asian economy is no longer expanding at the same pace as it did a few years ago.
China’s economy grew 7,3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 from a year earlier, and was expected to slow down to 7 percent in 2015.
As Zimbabwe adopted the Look East policy, it is also important to emulate their anti-corruption drive and ensure that Zimbabwe is a corrupt-free business destination.
Money can come, money can go but a good name can last forever.
When people get successful, the greed drives them to always want some more.
At times just being content with and living within our means is a good idea. The human element of greed has destroyed Zimbabwean companies.
Ministers, CEOs and many other business leaders should live within their agreed packages. Unethical side deals should not be tolerated. A lot of bad deals have derailed progress in Zimbabwe.
Focus should not be on money only. lt should also look at the impact on society.
Last year was dubbed the “year of learning” and 2016 should be the time to start implementing and correcting past mistakes.
The solution is simple, we only have to apply good corporate governance.
Personal behaviour also plays a crucial role if we are to develop as a country.
We definitely want to grow economically. Growing begins with implementing good ethics. We must shun entrepreneurs who are dishonest and have no integrity, otherwise we will never grow.
Corruption must stop, integrity should be priority while transparency should be key.
Always remember that it is important to have a good name.
Taurai Changwa is an Articled Accountant and has vast experience on tax, accounting, audit and corporate governance issues. He is Managing Director of SAFIC Consultancy. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted at [email protected] or WhatsApp on 0772374784.