Glossary

Gatekeepers are professionals, including lawyers, accountants and company service providers, whose work gives clients access to the financial system and who may be used, knowingly or not, to conceal criminal money.

The gender pay gap compares the average pay of all men and all women in an organisation or country, expressed as a percentage of men's pay, regardless of whether they do the same job.

A general anti-avoidance rule lets a tax authority deny the tax benefit of an arrangement whose main purpose is to obtain that benefit in a way that defeats the intent of the law.

The GDPR is the European Union's data protection law, applying since 2018, setting rules for how personal data may be used and giving individuals strong rights, with heavy fines for breaches.

A general licence is a published permission from a sanctions authority that lets anyone carry out a stated type of otherwise prohibited activity, within set conditions, without applying individually.

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles are the rules, standards and conventions a country accepts as the basis for preparing financial statements, so that reports are consistent and can be compared between companies.

Generative AI risk is the set of harms from tools that create text, images, code or audio, including false output, data leakage, copyright problems, security abuse and over-reliance by users.

Geopolitical risk is the chance that political tension, conflict, sanctions or sudden policy shifts between or within states damage an organisation's operations, assets, supply routes or financial results.

Gifts and hospitality are benefits such as presents, meals, event tickets and travel offered or received in business dealings. Firms control them because they can create obligation or disguise a bribe.

The Global Internal Audit Standards are the professional standards issued by the Institute of Internal Auditors that set out what internal auditors must do, and the principles behind good internal audit practice.

GRI is an independent organisation whose modular standards let any organisation report on its effects on the economy, environment and people, including human rights, in a way that stakeholders can compare.

Going concern is the basis on which accounts are normally drawn up: the business is expected to carry on trading and meet its debts as they fall due, with no intention or need to close.

Good Clinical Practice is the agreed set of ethical and scientific rules for how trials on human volunteers are planned, carried out and documented, so that volunteers are protected and the data can be relied on.

Good governance describes how public and other institutions make decisions and use power in a way that is accountable, transparent, fair and effective, with respect for law and the interests of the people they serve.

Good Manufacturing Practice is a set of quality rules for making medicines, food, devices and similar products so that every batch is consistently produced, tested and controlled to the standard it claims.

Governance, risk and compliance is the joined-up management of how an organisation is directed, how it handles risk and how it meets laws, rules and its own policies, using shared processes and information.

Grand corruption is the abuse of high-level public office by senior politicians or officials for large private gain, typically involving major contracts, state assets or public budgets and causing serious harm to citizens.

A green bond is a debt security whose proceeds are earmarked for projects with environmental benefits, such as renewable energy or energy efficiency, and which is reported on separately.

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most widely used set of standards for measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions, setting common rules for boundaries, scopes and calculation methods.

Greenhushing is when a company deliberately plays down or keeps quiet about its climate targets and progress, usually to avoid scrutiny, criticism or legal risk, even though it has real plans in place.

Greenwashing is making environmental or sustainability claims about a company, product or fund that are misleading, exaggerated or unsupported, so that it looks greener than it is.

A grievance mechanism is a formal channel through which people affected by an organisation's activities can raise complaints about harm, have them looked at fairly and, where justified, obtain a remedy.

Groupthink is the tendency of a close-knit group to seek agreement over critical thinking, so doubts go unspoken and weak decisions pass without challenge. In a boardroom it leaves risks unexamined.