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AEES

AEES Executive Certificate in Integrity, compliance and speaking up

Judge an undue advantage, a conflict and the alert channel. This AEES certification attests integrity, compliance and speaking up.

  • AssessmentProfessional assessment
  • Attempts2
  • PreparationIncluded
  • France
  • Canada
Description

Integrity, compliance and speaking up

A vague familiarity with “Integrity, compliance and speaking up” is no longer enough. This belongs with Law and integrity. You handle business, an alert, a public contract, a sanction or a dispute. People are hired to decide, not just to name the topic. This AEES certification is for professionals, managers and leaders who want to judge an undue advantage, declare a conflict of interest and decide the alert channel. No diploma is required. What is required is a working command of written French, and the will to show the subject on a real file, in a company, a public body or a partner organisation.

You are not joining a long degree. You take “Integrity, compliance and speaking up” seriously enough to use it, and seriously enough for someone else to read it on a file. Everything happens online, around a job you already have. You prepare if you need to, then you sit a professional assessment. The AEES Executive Certificate, if it is issued, is proof in your name, and it can be checked. It holds in a CV, a move or a cooperation. It is a short specialisation, issued by a higher-education institution. You see at once what you are buying: a targeted title, not a course catalogue.

Afterwards you can carry “Integrity, compliance and speaking up” into a team, a file or a new responsibility, and explain your choices to a manager, a funder or a partner institution. Others will see that you can judge an undue advantage, declare a conflict of interest and decide the alert channel, including outside your own organisation. If you succeed, AEES issues an AEES Executive Certificate in your name, with a unique serial number that can be checked in the public register. The award stays in your workspace. It shows a professional judgement you have demonstrated, useful for a CV, a new post or work in common.

Skills

What this certificate attests

The capabilities the assessment attests if you pass.

  • Judge an undue advantage
  • Declare a conflict of interest
  • Decide the alert channel
  • Hold a rule when you are asked to “keep it simple”
  • Use the intended channel
  • Protect the person and the file
ESCO classification — European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations

ESCO, the European skills vocabulary

This is the European Commission’s classification of skills, competences, qualifications and occupations. This certificate is linked to it through the skills below. Each link opens the official record.

Knowledge & research

Related scientific readings

Scientific readings related to this certificate.

Preparation included

To prepare for the assessment

After purchase, a preparatory course is available: 6 written modules, without an instructor, at your own pace. You are not required to follow it before opening the assessment. Each module sets out the notions, a commented case, the points to keep and a FAQ. It covers Advantage, Conflict, Third party and Pressure.

When you are ready, you enter the assessment: a file already open, incomplete facts, conflicting views. You move through successive decisions. This is not a full taught programme with pedagogical supervision.

Structured written course

Notions, objectives and concrete examples, organised progressively.

Applied case

A commented professional situation to anchor the theory.

FAQ and preparation

Frequent doubts, then questions to go further on your own.

  1. AEES Executive Certificate in Integrity, Compliance and Speaking Up, Module 1: Advantage Every commercial relationship includes courtesies. A coffee, a modest lunch, a product demo, or a small branded item can be normal ways to build rapport. The same gestures can also be used to tilt a decision. This module gives you a precise way to tell one from the other and to act accordingly without damaging the relationship or your company’s interests. You will learn how to assess the intent, context, and proportionality of gifts, hospitality, travel, discounts, charitable contributions, and other benefits. The approach is grounded in widely accepted legal and regulatory expectations. It is designed for practical use. You will practice recording facts, applying decision tests, and communicating a clear yes, no, or alternative.
  2. Conflict: Declare a tie before deciding Integrity is not only about refusing bribes or following the letter of a code. It is also about making sure your judgment is not compromised by personal ties, past roles, side interests, or obligations that could sway a decision. A conflict of interest does not mean you are corrupt. It means a private interest could reasonably be seen to interfere with your duty. The simple discipline is this: declare a tie before deciding. In most organizations, conflicts arise in ordinary situations. You evaluate vendors and one is led by a former colleague. You sit on a grant panel and an applicant was your client last year. You negotiate a contract while holding shares in a related company through an index fund. The right reaction is not to hide or rationalize. It is to surface the situation quickly, assess its significance, and put proportionate controls in place. That protects you, the process, and the outcome.
  3. Module 3: Third parties Third parties are not only suppliers and distributors. They include introducers, consultants, agents, lobbyists, outsourced service providers, freight forwarders, sponsorship brokers, charities tied to decision makers, and local partners. Many integrity failures occur where an external actor sits between your organization and the real decision taker. This module helps you map that interface and keep control. In real files, problems rarely announce themselves as bribes. They show up as success fees without clear deliverables, bank accounts in other countries, unusually high commissions, or a helpful relative who can open doors. If you do not check who pays, who introduces, and who really decides, your rules will be circumvented without leaving a clear trace.
  4. Module 4: Pressure, holding the rule when asked to "keep it simple" Pressure is routine in business. Deadlines compress. Clients escalate. A senior manager wants a yes before an earnings call. In these moments you will hear the same phrase again and again: "keep it simple." Sometimes it is harmless. Often it is a cue to remove a control, skip a check, or soften a conclusion. This module shows how to distinguish useful simplification from improper shortcuts, and how to hold the line without burning bridges. "Keeping it simple" can mean streamline the explanation. It can also mean look away from a red flag, accept a verbal assurance, or bypass a due diligence step. Your role is to remove friction that does not add value while protecting the minimum controls that make decisions defensible. That takes clarity on the rule, a method to respond under pressure, and confidence to speak up through the right channel when needed.
  5. Module 5 of 6, Alert: Use the Intended Channel An alert is not a complaint about convenience or a debate about strategy. It is a signal that a rule, a law, or an ethical commitment may be at risk. The integrity of your organization depends on how that signal is sent and received. Silence leaves risk to grow. Going public too early can cause avoidable harm. Using the intended channel gets the right facts to the right hands at the right time. This module is practical. You will learn how to decide whether what you see is alert-worthy, how to pick the channel, and exactly what to include. You will also learn how to protect the person who raises the concern and the integrity of the evidence. Managers will learn what to do the minute a team member brings them a potential alert.
  6. Module 6 of 6, Follow-up: Protect the person and the file, not the rumour Follow-up is the hard proof that speak-up is real. Reporting channels and policies only work if your response is timely, protective, and well documented. This module trains you to do the right things in the right order: acknowledge, assess, protect, investigate proportionately, decide, remediate, and close. Your goal is to protect the person and the file, not the rumour. That means controlling facts, not narratives; decisions, not emotions. In practice, follow-up lives at the intersection of people, data, and process. You will make decisions under time pressure with partial information. You will often coordinate across Legal, HR, Security, Internal Audit, and line management, sometimes across borders with different laws and expectations. The method here keeps you inside a defensible lane while giving enough flexibility to adapt to risk and culture.