Properly managing conflicts of interest helps maintain trust and confidence in organisations’ decision-making. Find out about the new expectations for managing conflicts of interest well, and how ComplyWith can help.
Introduction
Following recent serious failures in public sector agencies, the Public Service Commissioner has mandated updated expectations for managing conflicts of interest in changes to the Ngā Tauaki pānga—Model standards: Conflicts of interest (find them here).
These updated expectations, while mandatory for most public sector organisations and their employees, also give valuable guidance to other organisations about how to better manage conflicts of interest.
What are the model standards: conflicts of interest?
They set out the Public Service Commissioner’s minimum expectations to support the identification, assessment, and ongoing management and monitoring of conflicts of interest.
What were the key changes?
The key changes made in February 2025 included:
- Making conflicts of interest processes more robust, including:
- a regular process (at least annually) for all staff to declare and review conflicts,
- ensuring managers know what to do about non-compliance with the conflict of interest policy, and
- ensuring senior leaders maintain a record of any interests relevant to their work.
- All decisions about conflicts of interest must now be documented and recorded (even if it's concluded that no conflict exists).
- Requirements for internal conflict of interest policies were expanded, including a requirement for clear rules on the action that's required when there's non-compliance with a policy and examples of unmanageable conflicts.
- Further guidance was added on how to manage conflicts of interest in procurement, especially relating to the interests of contractors and subcontractors.
How can ComplyWith help?
Some organisations are already using the ComplyWith Controls Reporting module to run their regular process for ensuring staff have declared their interests and understand their conflicts of interest obligations.
Read about how New Zealand Green Investment Finance Limited uses Controls Reporting to run its regular conflicts of interest process here.
If you’re in a public sector organisation, we can add all the Public Service Model Standards to the compliance content in your ComplyWith Legal Compliance tool for a modest fee. You can then use ComplyWith to fulfil your duty to ensure people across your organisation have read and understood, and are complying with the standards.
Keen to find out more? Drop us a line.
