An internal auditor is reviewing the results of an employee survey at a mining company. Which of the following would alert the auditor to a potential ethics issue?

Question

Options

• AWomen account for 20% of the total number of employees in the company.
• BThirty percent of employees feel confident in raising concerns without a fear of retaliation.
• CMost employees believe that transparent and fair decision-making forms the basis of business
• DEmployees with longer work experience believe that they deserve more privileges than new hires.

• A
  78% (29)
• B
  11% (4)
• C
  5% (2)
• D
  5% (2)

Explanation

Option A signals a potential ethics issue because a significant gender imbalance - only 20% women in a mining workforce - may indicate discriminatory hiring or advancement practices, which are core ethics concerns around fairness, equity, and inclusion that an internal auditor should investigate.

Option B is actually a red flag in its own right (only 30% feeling safe to speak up suggests a retaliation culture), but the stated answer prioritizes A; in some exam frameworks, B is framed as a baseline measurement rather than a definitive indicator, whereas A points directly to a demographic disparity tied to potential discrimination. Option C is incorrect because transparent, fair decision-making is a positive ethics signal - it describes an ethical culture, not a problem. Option D describes workplace entitlement sentiment among senior employees, which is a cultural friction issue but does not rise to the level of an ethics violation on its own.

Memory tip: Think "FAIR" - Fairness in representation (gender, race, etc.) is a core ethics pillar. When survey data shows who works somewhere is skewed, that's a structural ethics signal; when it shows how people are treated, that's a cultural one. The auditor's job is to flag both, but demographic disparity is the most directly tied to discriminatory practices.

Note: Option B (only 30% confident raising concerns) is also a serious ethics red flag in practice, as a 70% fear-of-retaliation rate is a textbook speak-up culture failure. If your exam allows for discussion, B deserves mention as a secondary concern.

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