Building trust in times of uncertainty
All our successes, the difference we make for our clients, our people, and in our communities come down to our purpose: to make an impact that matters.
Making an impact that matters underpins every decision and connection we make and provides the foundation for how we approach our daily tasks. It means holding ourselves to high standards of integrity and building a culture of respect and inclusion. And it guides us in our work to build better futures.
With 457,000 people serving clients and communities across the world, Deloitte is a people business. Needless to say, our people are our greatest asset – which is why our purpose and our shared values are core to our culture and our success. Without them, we would never have been able to build the biggest and most valuable professional services firm in the world.
Our Global Principles of Business Conduct – or Global Code – reflect our ethical commitments and the standards we hold. Our Commitment to Responsible Business Practices covers the responsible business principles we believe in and the commitments we have made. Together they shape our policies and decision-making.
Deloitte’s brand and reputation is built on trust, innovation, quality, and transparency. It distinguishes Deloitte in the marketplace, differentiating us from the competition and enabling us to continue to attract the best talents.
As a leading Audit firm, we are servants of the public trust by providing the highest quality audits, ensuring objectivity and providing transparency across the organisations we serve. This is our licence to operate, and if we fail to live up to these standards, we risk that people and businesses will lose faith in systems, authorities, and capital markets.
Therefore, we work every day to uphold our position as the leading professional services firm in the world by acting ethically and with integrity and serving as role models in our communities – while complying with external as well as regulatory requirements and expectations.
With so much geopolitical and market uncertainty around, it can be hard to gain a bearing. For us, it is in the moments when tragedy strikes that our values truly come into play. When, earlier this year, Turkey and Syria were hit by catastrophic earthquakes, our people mobilised quickly – both in Deloitte Denmark and at an NSE level – to donate both material goods and financially to the Red Cross.
Our response to this era of uncertainty is to double down on the work we do and the values that guide us. We continue to build trust in the market, we innovate, and we create change together with our clients and ecosystem of alliance partners. We navigate with the long-term picture in mind – building a more sustainable world. And we continue to stay true to, and be guided by, our purpose, values, and responsible business practices. Because, in an era beset by crises and confusion, the work we do – and the way we do it – takes on an even greater significance.
Leading with our values in an age of uncertainty
Looking back over the last year – and, indeed, those preceding it – it can sometimes feel like the only certainty is uncertainty. Though working lives have returned to normal after years of lockdown, the relatively benign political and economic environment from before the pandemic has not returned. And as crises interlink and escalate, we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that perhaps it never will.
In Denmark, both interest rates and inflation have returned to near-normal levels – but the heights reached across the year had a heavy impact on firms and consumers alike. War continues in Europe – a grotesque and meaningless tragedy leaving immense suffering in its wake. Our thoughts are with those affected on the ground, and, of course, our own colleagues whose lives have been affected. Following the invasion, Deloitte ceased operations in Russia and Belarus, whilst offering support to our people in Ukraine, and donating financially to support humanitarian efforts there.
With so much geopolitical and market uncertainty around, it can be hard to gain a bearing. For us, it is in the moments when tragedy strikes that our values truly come into play. When, earlier this year, Turkey and Syria were hit by catastrophic earthquakes, our people mobilised quickly – both in Deloitte Denmark and at an NSE level – to donate both material goods and financially to the Red Cross.
Our response to this era of uncertainty is to double down on the work we do and the values that guide us. We continue to build trust in the market, we innovate, and we create change together with our clients and ecosystem of alliance partners. We navigate with the long-term picture in mind – building a more sustainable world. And we continue to stay true to, and be guided by, our purpose, values, and responsible business practices. Because, in an era beset by crises and confusion, the work we do – and the way we do it – takes on an even greater significance.
Our WorldClass ambition - empowering 100 million people
Millions of people around the world are held back from achieving their full potential. Investing in education and skills is the answer. It is the foundation of opportunity and progress, and it creates better futures for all.
As a professional services business with knowledge workers, we believe we make the greatest societal impact when our people use their skills and expertise to help others succeed. Our commitment to make an impact that matters to society is outlined in our global WorldClass ambition – to reach 100 million people by 2030 through programmes and partnerships with leading educational organisations around the world. We invest our time, provide volunteers, and donate to support millions of students, teachers, and educational leaders worldwide. Since we started measuring our global impact in 2018, we have reached 33.6 million individuals worldwide.
Small Great Nation
Small Great Nation is our main social impact initiative. Small Great Nation is a collaboration with the think tank Kraka to create a fact-based discussion about Denmark’s strengths, opportunities, and challenges as a country. Through analyses, events, podcasts, and press activities, we have engaged business leaders, politicians, organisations, the public sector, and the broader society in discussions about Denmark’s future. Our three sounding boards have also been ambassadors for the initiative by helping to change perceptions in the public debate and influence decision-makers.
During the past year, we launched report #11 ‘The public sector – the welfare state’s jewel?’ about how the public sector is facing two challenges that may change the welfare state as we know it. Demographic headwinds and low productivity mean that Denmark must either turn down expectations about the quality of public services or rethink how the welfare state is designed.
We also launched report #12 ‘The young generation – from school, screens and stress to the hope of the future’, which addresses the increasing concerns about the young generation – many young people are suffering from low wellbeing. The report examines what might be causing their declining wellbeing and suggests a number of areas for improvement as well as concrete solutions to reverse the trend of declining wellbeing.
Human Practice Foundation
During FY23, we continued our work with the Danish NGO Human Practice Foundation, which creates schools, quality education, and entrepreneurial projects for children and communities in Nepal, Kenya, and Denmark.
Deloitte supports the Human Practice Foundation in their operations with advisory and auditing services – including organising their fundraising. All our work is pro bono, and today the Human Practice Foundation is a successful and fast-growing NGO that brings about positive change for children by building and restructuring schools in developing countries and helping vulnerable school children in Denmark.
This year, we have been particularly involved in the Inner Strength programme which the Human Practice Foundation runs in Danish secondary schools. As a response to the numerous surveys showing that more and more Danish children and young people are experiencing stress, anxiety, and low levels of wellbeing, this programme aims to improve this situation by focusing on self-worth and self-confidence, relationships and networks, and by boosting participants’ ability to focus and engage in the classroom.
We also actively support the work Human Practice Foundation undertakes outside of Denmark. In particular we have supported the work undertaken in Nepal, where the organisation undertakes educational interventions and improvements to give children better life chances – strengthening local communities and catalysing economic growth. We have helped measure the impact of Human Practice Foundation’s work, ensuring they are continuing to make a real difference on the ground.
