The Society of Financial Service Professionals established the American Business Ethics Award (ABEA) to honor companies that demonstrate a firm commitment to ethical business practices in everyday operations, management philosophies, and responses to crises or challenges.

Founded in 1928, the Society has over 22,000 members in over 200 Chapters nationwide who provide personal, family and business financial services. Members meet stringent educational, professional and ethical requirements.

The Charlotte Chapter of the Society sponsors the Charlotte Ethics in Business Award. Award recipients will be honored in celebratory events at which time the crystal award will be presented to the recipient company president or CEO.

Companies entering the Award competition will be judged in one of three categories based on the number of employees:

Small - Under 100 employees
Mid-sized - 100-1,499 employees
Large - Over 1,500 employees

Nonprofit companies and financial service companies are not eligible to participate. A financial service company is defined as one that earns more than 25 percent of its revenues from providing financial services or from the sale of financial products.

An independent panel of judges drawn from business, academic, public service, and media sectors, as well as the ethics community will evaluate the entries and select the finalists and Award recipients.

1. Complete the online nomination form or the PDF form to nominate a company for the AEBA program. You may also obtain a copy by calling Janice Stevens in the SFSP office at 704-527-2244.
   
2. Customers, clients, employees, consultants, vendors and private citizens may nominate. A company may also nominate itself.
   
3. Consider a company that demonstrates a firm commitment to ethical practice in its everyday operations, philosophies and in response to crises and challenges.
   
4. Send the completed nomination form to the chapter address listed on the form. The deadline to submit nominations is listed to the right.

1. The Society will send a letter of recognition to the nominated companies that identifies the person who nominated the company.
   
2. The nominated companies will also receive an official AEBA Entry Form and detailed instructions for submitting their entry for consideration.
   
3. The nominated company will be required to produce a binder that includes the information required, as detailed in the entry form.

1. The Society will notify nominators and all companies who submit an entry of the decision of the panel of judges.
2. Winners will be recognized at an Awards Ceremony and qualified entries will be forwarded for consideration to the national competaition. The date of the lunchon is listed to the right.