Corporate Scandal Essays (Examples)

Corporate Governance

A regulation refers to a law or rule designed to govern or control the conduct of a person, group, or corporation. egulation limits, constraints and creates a right, allocates responsibility and limits or creates a duty. egulation may take the form of legal restrictions that are promulgated by a federal authority. It also has contractual obligations that are meant to bind the parties involved. This report endeavors to explain how legislative reactions to regulate different business activities can be prevented. It also endeavors to explain about the challenging arguments presented by Professor Manne and the proposal he made for unregulated corporate system.

Corporate scandals that lead to business regulation

Numerous corporate scandals have prompted reforms on the business practices resulting increasing regulation. Some of these corporate scandals include cover-ups, greed, and dishonesty. The business corporations should answer back to the public: for this reason, they should uphold responsibility…

How can I establish business credit before I start a business? The paradox seems to elude American politicians and policy makers.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because we who are socially disadvantaged are denied access to the upper echelons of the capitalist system. We are told that unless we have some money to begin with, we can't hope to make more money in the future. Forget about the rages-to-riches stories; they are cliches too. What banks earn from my small personal savings serve only to bolster the pockets of the corporate financiers, who turn around and deny people like me loans in the amount that they spend on one shopping spree.

Ultimately Dun and Bradstreet helped me set up a business credit file, which will slowly help me build my business credibility. In due time, I will be able to obtain a business credit account with…

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

The accounting profession was entangled in the accounting and business scandals whirlwind that rocked the American economy in 2002. To recover investor confidence in financial data, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act designed a new Oversight Board for public Company accounting with the power to set requirements for auditors of public organizations, thus bringing to an end a century of export control of audit. We determine that this reform results in an important loss of the professional position of auditors, which also affects other categories in the wider accounting career.

Significance of the Act

Between 2001 and 2002, a sequence of accounting frauds was discovered at major organizations. Consequently, the bubble burst sending investor confidence and stock prices are plummeting. The part of auditors in these frauds led to a deepening issue with the potency of professional self-regulation. High-profile business problems translating into a media fixation of Enron questioned…

Ethically, the actions of Enron management were reprehensible. From a deontological perspective, they broke laws. From a consequentialist perspective, their actions resulted in significant financial losses for millions of people, job losses for thousands and a loss of public faith in the financial system.

The Enron scandal is perhaps the most egregious misuse of data in recent years. Data was manipulated and/or hidden from those whose job was to analyze the data. ide-ranging and catastrophic losses resulted from this misuse. Had the data been presented factually and honestly, the analysis that flowed from it would have benefited Enron's internal and external stakeholders. The company may have suffered in the short-term but would have been able to survive in the long-term.

orks Cited:

Thomas, Cathy Booth. (2002). Called to Account. Time Magazine. Retrieved March 27, 2009 from http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,263006,00.html

Houston Chronicle: The Fall of Enron. (2001-2009). Houston Chronicle. Retrieved March 27, 2009…

PENALTIES - CIVIL & CIMINAL

There are statutes that impose penalties both civil and criminal for government contractors who commit fraud, waste or abuse. Some of those statutes are as follows:

False Claims Act;

False Statements Act;

Forfeiture Statute;

Anti-Kickback Act

Bribery and Gratuities statutes;

Mail and Wire Fraud statutes; and the Public Integrity Act and recent legislative initiatives to strengthen criminal penalties for violations of conflict of interest laws. (Peckar & Abramson, 2007)

The government has the right to audit the records of the contractor for up to three years following a contract for the government being completed. Companies with contracts exceeding $5 million are required to: (1) post a fraud hotline poster; (2) establish a written code of ethics; (3) establish an employee ethics and compliance training program; and (4) establish an internal control system. (New ule for Government Contractors, nd)

SUMMAY & CONCLUSION

The Corporate Compliance Plan…

It should not be treated as a separate exercise undertaken to meet regulatory requirements." (ICA, 29) Here is expressed a philosophical impetus that drives the focus of this research, that such compliance which will generally concern matters such as corporate accounting, the practice of internal oversight and the practice of financial transaction must be considered inextricable from other aspects of practical, procedural and legal operation in terms of its relevance and necessity.

Chapter 3-Practice

The practice of corporate governance may perhaps best be understand from the perspective that deregulation has largely defined the processes and direction of the global economy across the two decades following the Cold ar and its inevitable opening of economic channels. This is because in practice, corporate governance is a concept which has suffered much neglect. To the point, the statistics availed by organizations such as the orld Bank and the International Monetary Fund illustrate that…

Both proposals were consequently amended and eventually accepted by the SEC.

The audit committee makes sure that the books aren't being cooked and that shareholders are properly informed of the financial status of the firm. Characteristically, the audit committee advocates the CPA firm that will audit the company's books, appraises the activities of the company's independent accountants and internal auditors, and reviews the company's internal control systems and its accounting and financial reporting requirements and practices. The compensation committee usually does the following: (1) recommends the selection of the CEO, (2) reviews and approves the appointment of officers who report directly to the CEO, (3) reviews and approves the compensation of the CEO and the managers reporting to the CEO, and (4) administers the stock compensation and other incentive plans. The suggested committee establishes experience for potential directors (Lunnie, 2007; pg. 90). It also puts collectively a list of candidates…

WorldCom (CEO Bernard Ebbers) supported by years of profitability arising from the deregulation of phone companies was a fast moving stock that was highly toted by stock specialists as a must buy, even while it was seriously hemorrhaging from bad and fraudulent business deals and its own shoddy accounting, cover ups and bad investment deals.

WorldCom quickly supplanted at&T as the favorite of many investors, based heavily on Grubman's recommendations. The investment world quickly sang WorldCom's praises as a result. A technology magazine, Network World, named it one of the ten most powerful companies, behind only Cisco and Microsoft. After listing its virtues, the magazine went on to conclude that, "MCI WorldCom will probably be a keeper on this list." 18 as for its investment virtues, Grubman claimed that it was a traditional "widows and orphans" stock, to be held for the long-term. Based partially upon his recommendations, Fortune listed…

But the shareholders themselves need to be more aware and more involved in their company's business in order for any meaningful change to sustain itself:

Shareholders, the intended beneficiaries of the corporate vehicle, are the ultimate capitalists: avaricious accumulators with little fiscal risk and no legal responsibility for the way in which they pursue their imperative to accumulate. Shareholders, not corporations, show indifference to the needs and values of society. It is their behaviour that is most appropriately characterized as amoral indifference to the plight of others and their environment. Shareholders, not corporations, behave in a pathological manner. And shareholders should be the targets for the cure that we need for our ills. (Glasbeek 2005: 24)

There is also the problem of victimisation of other cultures in a global market. As Strike, Gao and Bansal (2006) point out in their article, 'Being Good While Being Bad: Social esponsibility and the…

4. If Enron shareholders had been fully aware of the LJM partnership agreement, do you believe they would have been willing to continue investing in Enron?

LJM was created by Fastow allegedly to buy poorly performing Enron assets, but in reality to hide debt and inflate profits of Enron in order to leverage its stock price. It is almost certain that Enron shareholders would have ceased to continue investing in Enron had they been aware of the full significance of LJM.

LJM, in its essence, entailed that Enron was far below that which it's displayed to the public and that likely its debts were more massive and its profits far less than those claimed. Investors, obviously, would not want to invest in a poorly performing company.

Even if Enron's profits were higher and debts lower than those that the company tried to conceal, the very fact that Enron was not…

Corporate Social esponsibility

The purpose of this case study is close synopsis of the Enron case and its impact on consumers and corporate business practices alike. Prior to its collapse Enron had been named one of America's top 10 admired corporations, and its boards "was acclaimed one of the U.S.' best five" (eed, 2004). Throughout the 1990s the company experienced tremendous growth and profits exceeding $180 billion, employing more than 30,000 people worldwide (eed, 2004).

Enron collapsed however and went bankrupt, a process that "outraged and impacted stakeholders tremendously and resulted in numerous congressional investigations" (eed, 2004). The "implosion" of the company "wreaked havoc on accounting like no other case in American history; the collapse of the system called into question the adequacy of U.S. disclosure practices and the integrity of independent audit processes" (Thomas, 2002).

Overview of the Case

In October of 2001 Enron executives announced they were taking…

Corporate Governance

As some queries about corporate governance were there ever since 1932 - the period of erle and Means, the expression of the concept of Corporate Governance was not found in English vocabulary until 25 years ago. However, in the previous two decades, matters relating to corporate governance have gained importance in academic literature as well as in public policy deliberations. Corporate governance came to be acknowledged as being synonymous with takeovers, financial restructuring, and activities of institutional investor's during this part of the era. Corporate Governance is now at a turning point. Several budding and up-coming economies that are on the path of development have identified by now that excellent corporate governance is vital for sustainable economic development. Furthermore, a lot are on the lookout for a novel or appropriate standard for making it relevant for their particular internal situation. (erle and Means, 1932)

The last ten years…

The stock was trading on pink sheets at $0.165 per share at the end of April 2003" (8).

As noted above, one of the key factors involved in what happened at HealthSouth was the enormous pressure to perform in the increasingly competitive for-profit healthcare industry, pressure that directly affected the decisions that were made concerning the types of accounting practices that were needed to "deliver the goods," at least on paper. Although absent from the foregoing list, Scrushy's name appears time and again in the investigation that followed. According to Jennings, "Like Enron, orldCom, and Tyco, HealthSouth placed tremendous pressure on employees to 'meet the numbers.' In April 1998, CEO Richard Scrushy told analysts that HealthSouth had matched or beat earnings estimates for 47 quarters in a row" (8). The role played by Scrushy in engineering the corporate culture that would allow these estimates to be reported with a straight…

Corporate Governance

There have been controversies on the subject of the governance and accountability of big corporations, but it is only recently that these issues have gained prominence. The compensation for the top management is one of the major issues of corporate governance today. The primary reason for offering stocks to executives was for raising the share prices and thereby increasing its value for both investors as well as shareholders. Though this proved to be a major success, there were a few executives who would not disclose their stock options or would not make full use of the stock options offered to them. This caused inefficiency in the financial market. Stakeholders have the freedom to check their shares and to question the management if there were any discrepancies. Despite these constant checks with financial analysts, the board of directors, the panel of regulators, auditors and managers, there has been instances…

Corporate Conduct

Global corporations are often difficult to control because they operate in various countries throughout the world. As such actions that may be illegal in some countries are perfectly legal in others. Furthermore law enforcement officials and governments do not have the power to enforce laws that are outside of their jurisdictions. These issues call into question the effectiveness mechanisms that exist to control global corporate conduct. The purpose of this discussion is to Assess the effectiveness of various mechanisms that exist to control global corporate conduct and recommend a mechanism that I believe is the most effective.

Survey of Mechanisms and their Advantages/Disadvantages

Private Regulation

Private regulations employ civil regulations to compel transnational corporations to operate according to a certain set of standards. According to the "defining feature of civil regulation is that its legitimacy, governance and implementation is not rooted in public authority. Operating beside or around…

Corporate governance of finances in major corporations has been a major controversy during the recent recession. The scandal at Satyam is indicative of problems across the board, from CEOS, to executive boards, to independent auditors and even accounting firms such as Price Waterhouse. In this essay, the author will consider the unique problems presented in a globalised market where faith in the market is essential for international trade to function.

When the CEO assumes the entire responsibility in a corporate governance fiasco absolving everyone else (family members, board of directors, independent directors and other top management people), how should the regulatory authorities and the government proceed against the CEO who has confessed and other people who were absolved by him. Critically evaluate especially from the point-of-view of absolving all the others including the top management, board of directors and the family members, from any of the accumulated corporate wrongdoings.

What…

Corporate Strategies: Why are they so Important?

Domino's Pizza

Strategic Leadership

Strategic Entrepreneurship

Innovation Applied

What is your biggest Professional Accomplishment?

Organizational Design and Culture

The 80s and Deregulation

The Election of Barack Obama

US rise as a world super power

Domino's Pizza

Dominoes use the strategy by depending on the population and household. They believe that the population and household income are what needs to help when it comes to figuring out if people are willing to pay the pizza price and how much is the request for pizza. They think that this method is important because the population is what helps figuring out the demand for pizza as a consequence of the law of the demand, the bigger population the greater the demand. The household income will help likewise for the reason that the more disposable income the more individuals will purchase a common good. However, Pizza is…

This may be a complex task requiring detailed input from all levels. He also says that the company's mission and corporate values should be clearly articulated (Drummond, 2003). He also recommends that the final plan be written down clearly so that everyone has a roadmap to help in times of change.

As Seijts (2004) says, "The true test of leadership is being able to take people in a direction where they would not go on their own." That journey will be most successful when everyone knows where they are going and why, and when they have clear guidelines, exactly what they have to do to help bring the needed cultural changes about.

ibliography

Drummond, Carl N. 2003. "Strategic planning for research administration (Case Study)." Journal of Research Administration, July.

McClenahen, John S. 2005. "Restoring Credibility." Industry Week, February 1.

Seijts, Gerard H. 2004. "Walking on water or sinking without a…

Corporate Leadership

Case

Hewlett-Packard is one of the world's largest companies that makes printers and personal computers (PC). Though a successful company, leader, and sometimes giant of the industry, the 21st century has been a tough road for HP, with particular regard for stable and strong leadership. HP is a company that has seen several recent changes in the position of CEO. As of 2012, Meg Whitman is the current CEO of HP. Whitman was the former CEO of eBay, replacing Leo Apotheker, who had the position for less than one year. He was ultimately pushed out of the position by the board members of HP.

The Leadership of Apotheker

During the leadership of Apotheker, HP struggled. The company continued to lead and innovate in the technology and design, but there were many organizational problems that caused many top level executives to abandon ship. Apotheker's leadership caused the HP stock…

Corporate Social Responsibility
Companies use Corporate Social Responsibility to assess their effect on the social and environmental wellbeing and take responsibility. CSR is primarily a mechanism for self-regulation. Firms track and make sure that they comply with the law, actively, including standards of ethics, international and national norms. Occasionally, the efforts by such companies may go beyond the regulatory requirements or the groups for the protection of the environment (Belfiore, 2016).
Apple Inc. has emerged as a leading global manufacturer, marketer and designer of media accessories, communications devices, portable audio players and computers. It was established in 1977 in the state of California. It is now ranked as the largest company dealing with IT; based on revenue and the total number of assets under its ownership and control. It is also ranked second in the mobile manufacturing niche. The CSR activities at Apple are spearheaded by its Vice President in…

This has lead to a greater corporate awareness of their impact in the multitude of regions they work and sell in. It has lead the concept of Corporate Social esponsibility to become a highlighted feature in the nature of global business today.

There are numerous examples of successful implementations of Corporate Social esponsibility in today's marketplace. Take one for example, the Caremark Corporation which is typically known to Americans as the owners of the CVS chain pharmacy and drug stores. This corporation has expanded rapidly over the past few years and has now become a global powerhouse. Yet, within its store locations, even in nations many corporations might exploit, they sill over excellent employee health packages that are equitable with the ones they offer their American employees in the United States. This seemingly small token shows corporate responsibility for their employees. However, not all seemingly wholesome American companies end up…

Ethics, Corporate Governance and Company Social esponsibility

Information that is essential to share includes financial performance, business strategy and overall company actions (Pfeffer, 1998). Sharing this information gives the employees the power to evaluate their performance and help them make the right decisions on how they can improve it. This is a simple and very straightforward practice but most companies are still apprehensive about this practice. One cause for this is that information is power and by sharing essential information like financial performance the management is scattering that power. Another reason is that the management is concern about information escaping to competitors. This will put the organization in an unfavourable position. But what companies do not realize that the competition most probably already know this information. Thus if a company withheld information they are only leaving their own employees in the dark. Because of this, employees will reply on speculation…

Management

During the aftermath of current corporate scandals, administrators and scientists have directed their focus to concerns towards management of ethical values. We determine 3 popular misconceptions about organization integrity and offer responses which are grounded theoretically, groundwork, and organization cases. Even though the study of organization ethics is fairly brand new, theory and groundwork can be found that may direct professionals who're attempting to better handle their workforce and their very own moral conduct (Corina and oxana, 2011). We suggest that moral behavior be handled actively by way of specific honorable leadership as well as informed administration of the company's ethical culture.

The current century has taken business ethics scandals which have damaged countless workers as well as shareholders, and delivered shock waves all through the business community. The scams have created "perp walks" as well as regulation backlash, and company ethical values are yet again a popular subject.…

iordan

A Corporate Compliance and Enterprise isk Management Plan for iordan Manufacturing

iordan Manufacturing is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Fortune 1000 company iordan Industries, and is engaged in the manufacturing of a variety of finished plastic goods and parts for use in other finished products that the company as been contracted to provide. The company has been highly successful utilizing a global network of manufacturing and distribution to maximize profitability by reducing labor costs and diversifying its product offerings, but this international exposure also places certain legal constraints and responsibilities on the company that must be accounted for in iordan Manufacturing's corporate compliance plan, which is the primary focus of the following paper.

In order to develop this corporate compliance plan, however, some background information on the company is necessary to determine organizational structure and culture, and also to develop a corporate compliance plan that is in keeping…

Any business that pursues making a profit at the expense of the society in which it operates will find its success to be nothing more than temporary (Chapter 1: Corporate Social esponsibility and Business Sustainability, n.d.).

The idea of Corporate Social esponsibility (CS) is generally understood to imply that corporations have an amount of responsibility not only for the economic consequences of their activities, but also for the social and environmental implications. This is often called the triple bottom line approach. This approach takes into consideration the economic, social and environmental aspects of corporate activities. The meaning and value of CS often differs in various situations, depending on local issues including culture, environmental conditions, and the legal framework (Corporate Social esponsibility & Human ights, 2008).

Human rights are significant to the economic, social and environmental aspects of all corporate activity. Labor rights that require companies to pay fair wages influence…

Corporate Accountability

The corporate scandals of the last fifteen years have brought the issue of corporate accountability to new light, adopting at times a center-stage discussion. When the Bernie Madoff scandal broke, many professionals turned to the accounting department at Madoff Securities along with the auditors who had audited the firm before. Madoff was the one who admitted to stealing $50 billion dollars during the decades that his firm was open -- even though his firm hadn't purchased securities in over 13 years. Such an admission of guilt demonstrates that without strict and enforceable tenets of corporate accountability, $50 billion dollars really can just disappear. Thus corporate accountability is something that needs to be fostered both internally and externally: if it is only enforced and fostered in one way, then this imbalance is doomed to create failure along with other ethical sunsets.

In order to properly enforce corporate accountability, it…

This method is congruent with Fraenkel and Wallen (2001) who note, "esearchers usually dig into the literature to find out what has already been written about the topic they are interested in investigating. Both the opinions of experts in the field and other research studies are of interest. Such reading is referred to as a review of the literature" (p. 48). A critical review of the literature can also provide other benefits as well. For example, Wood and Ellis (2003) identified the following as important outcomes of a well conducted literature review:

1. It helps describe a topic of interest and refine either research questions or directions in which to look;

2. It presents a clear description and evaluation of the theories and concepts that have informed research into the topic of interest;

3. It clarifies the relationship to previous research and highlights where new research may contribute by identifying…

CSR Motivations

CSR

Motivations behind Corporate Social Responsibility

Organizations embark on social and environmental reporting for a variety of different reasons and not to simply improve credibility with stakeholders; although that is a primary reason in many organizations. However, other organizations have different objectives altogether that can include a range of different motivations. Some models have broken the range of motivations into signaling or greenwashing or used legitimacy theory to explain the motivations by firms to report on their social and environmental performances. This analysis will look at some of the different models that have been constructed to attempt to explain why firms utilize CSR frameworks.

Discussion

The popularity of CSR has grown substantially in the last couple of decades. Many people may have grown skeptical of business in the wake of corporate scandals such as Enron, Tyco, and orldCom followed by the sub-prime mortgage market which have all gained…

Hastie Group Governance Failure

Hastie Group Corporate Governance

Hastie Governance Failure

The downfall of the Hastie Group reads much like the other major corporate failures around the world including Enron and MCI Worldcom in the United States. There is general pattern emblematic to more corporate scandals. That pattern is when figures are "massaged" or even completely made up. This pattern manifested itself yet again with the Hastie Group. Once someone caught on to the massive amount of lies and misdeeds, it was too late for most workers and the company itself.

Deficiencies & Circumstances

It was reported in August 2012 that the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) by the administrator of Hastic, that being PPB Advisor, and its receiver, that being McGrathNicol, the substance and extent of the misdeeds of Hastie relative to the allegations that were levied. Even though the review at that point was in its nascent…

corporate ethical breaches in recent times, assess whether or not you believe that the current business and regulatory environment is more conducive to ethical behavior. Provide support for your answer.

Unethical behavior has drawn the attention of the public for the few last decades in all kinds of business. Many transformations in the business environment have taken place, including immoral conducts and the tendency for corruption. Unethical accounting behavior is also included as a consequence. So the government has been forced to increase regulations and inspect actions taken in business, most especially after the Enron, Tyco, WorldCom and other unethical accounting scandals. As a result of the mentioned scandals, the government then passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 providing regulatory requirements for better precision in business action, accountability and assurance of ethical accounting behavior by publicly held companies and accounting firms. According to Calle (2000), the total number of boards…

This is too simple a solution. An analysis of the corporate strategies shows that the flaw in the lack of any ethics in the formulation of these strategies is greater the culprit and the corporate executives that were responsible for the development of these flawed strategies, lacking in ethics were more to blame than a few leaders in the organization. (Leadership: Facing Moral and Ethical Dilemmas)

In conclusion a corporate executive may choose to employ ethical and moral values at the time of formulating corporate strategies, but should he choose to ignore the immense good that morals and ethics bring to a corporate strategy he does at not just his peril but puts at risk the whole organization with the chances of it collapsing like Enron very high.

eferences

Ethics Must Come From the Top. Jacksonville Business Journal. August 27, 2004. etrieved from http://www.foley.com/publications/pub_detail.aspx?pubid=2226Accessed on March 3,

Implementing Ethics Strategies…

corporate and public shortcomings that arguably resulted in the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill marked the U.S.'s worst environmental disaster. Whilst identifying the corporate and state cover-ups the triggered the disaster, this study recommends some of the solutions that can be adopted to prevent future disasters. BP's corporate flaws are largely to blame for the disaster.

The 20th of April of 2010 marked the largest oil spill disaster in the U.S. referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (Lehner & Deans 2010). On this day, a fire explosion resulted in the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. The catastrophe led to the deaths of 11 workers. BP owned the oil well while Halliburton did the cementing of the well. Transocean Company was the owner of the rig. The three companies engaged in blame games while efforts to deter the oil spill lasted…

Corporate governance failure is a serious threat to the future existence of any organization. The high corporate failure rates witnessed in the first decade of the century brought to the limelight the concept of effective corporate governance, and the core principles of trust and integrity. This text examines Wal-Mart's corporate governance strategy to determine how the company restrains managerial power, and how it aligns the interests of managers and directors with those of the organization.

Corporate governance failure is a serious threat to the future existence of any organization. Following the stream of corporate failures witnessed in the first decade of the century, the investor base has become more aggressive about effective corporate governance based on the core values of trust and integrity. Today, a company's ability to conduct its profit-maximization goal within the ethical boundaries of integrity, honesty, fairness is widely regarded as a source of competitive advantage. Towards…

Corporate inversion is the strategy adopted by corporate organizations to reincorporate in foreign companies to escape the tax burden. In other word, corporate inversion is the strategy used by organizations to earn significant proportion of their income from foreign countries and leave the income in those countries in order to avoid the U.S. tax rate. In the United States, the government levy taxes on income realizes within the country and from foreign sources. However, organizations use corporate inversion strategy by incorporating in countries with less stringent tax requirements or corporate governance requirements to avoid the U.S. high tax rates.

The United States tax rate is the highest among the advanced countries where corporation pay corporate tax rate as high as 35%. Apart from taxing the income realized domestically, the government also taxes the income organizations bring into the United States from other countries. Thus, corporate inversion is the strategy employed…

Scandal/Controversy in Sports

The following will take a look to see if scandal and controversy benefit sports.

Background of Sports Industry and Scandals

Sports in the U.S. is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Companies try to engage with clients by aligning the services and products they offer with this well-known industry via sports funding and endorsement. The benefit of this involvement has been well-recorded in the sports marketing literature (Hughes and Shank, 2005). The effect on business brands in case a scandal surfaces regarding an athletic supporter like a player, coach, or a team however, is less well-known. Several sports scandals, for instance, the rape case surrounding Kobe Bryant and the University of Colorado recruitment scandal raise very serious questions regarding the effect of sports scandals on amateur and professional athletic institutions, participants, sponsors, as well as other stakeholders.

Whereas conventional corporate sports supporters like Nike maintain omnipresence, several other different kinds…

Clearly, he companies engaged in this practice were operating with direct intention, and a roper governance system would have made this obvious and prevented it.

Software Spying

In another telecommunications case, a company was found to have included spyware in a company-sponsored "software upgrade" to users' cell phones, that enabled the company to collect confidential information from users' phones without their consent (Khaleej Times, 2009). Not only is this practice clearly unethical, but it is also illegal despite a lack of stringency in the detection of such crimes and the prosecution of large-scale corporate offenders such as telecommunications companies. Again, greater transparency and internal control would have allowed this practice to be discovered much sooner, and the risk of discovery almost certainly would have prevented this action from ever occurring. Corporate governance works best when it is so strong it is only rarely and usually accidentally tested; when purposeful actions…

NHS Corporate Social esponsibility Practice

In a contemporary business environment, organizations are struggling with the new roles to meet the needs of present generation without compromising the needs of future generation. Within a business environment, stakeholders are calling upon corporate organizations to implement operations that will meet the societal values and the natural environment. Organizations are also being called upon to apply principles of corpo-rate social responsibility (CS) in the business operations. Corpo-rate social responsibility (CS) is the process where corporate organizations demonstrate the inclusion of social responsibility and environmental concerns in their business activities. (D'Amato, Henderson, & Henderson, 2009). It is no longer acceptable for a firm to conduct business without demonstrating societal concern.

The objective of this report is to evaluate the current Corporate Social esponsibility practice of National Health Service (NHS). The report uses Carroll's pyramid models to demonstrate the effectiveness of NHS Corporate Social esponsibility practice,…

Perkins - who had retired at the age of 70 but was coming back on the board - had by this time muscled his way into a powerful position within the HP community; he and his powerful board ally, George Keyworth, held special "technology committee" meetings with key HP people the day before each board meeting. Stewart writes that Perkins' little group actually became a "board within a board," and Perkins' power grew. His disenchantment with Fiorina also grew. Fiorina was apparently losing the confidence of the board, and Perkins was the central figure in that movement away from Fiorina. Prior to the retreat, which was alluded to earlier in this paper, there was a board meeting scheduled, and before that meeting, Keyworth and Dunn approached Fiorina and urged her to "express concerns about Hewlett-Packard's performance, stock price, unfavorable press, and need to reorganize," Stewart continues.

Although Fiorina showed resistance…

Siemens AG Scandal

Siemens AG had over one hundred fifty years of experience making business deals internationally by the time it became embroiled in several bribery scandals in 2006. Beginning in the mid-1800s, the company set up products such as telegraph networks and maintenance and initiated business practices such as fixed-hour workdays and employee career training that helped it get ahead. ith a long and solid history as a leading company in Germany and internationally, the accusations against it might seem surprising, but investigators turned up plenty of evidence that Siemens AG had made frequent bribes of foreign officials and businessmen in order to turn business its way. It was also accused of embezzlement and tax evasion. The resulting scandal, which involved authorities in Germany, Switzerland, Greece, the U.S., and other countries, cost Siemens billions of dollars, landed some managers in legal trouble, and harmed Siemens AG's reputation. The Siemens…

CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in this article discusses the fact that corporate responsibility is fledgling in protecting employees at Ealing Hospital. The case discusses instances when professionals lost their jobs when stepping forward to report others fur unethical conduct. There is evidence that the hospital has covered up several instances of fraud and attempted to remove those that reported wrongdoing. The Health Secretary, Stephen Dorrell has reported that an investigation will be conducted to review the actions against whistleblowers (Lakhani, 2011).

There are many health colleagues who have come to the aid of those facing unemployment and blacklisting as a result of stepping up. These health professionals are adamant in getting compensation and protection through NHS or the Strategic Health Alliance for histleblowers. That is health professionals willing to put themselves on the line to protect patients and expose gross neglect and waste of taxpayers money (Lakhani, 2011). One…

WorldCom

Prior to the corporate financial scandal, WorldCom was one of the largest long distance telephone companies (euters, 2003). Initially headquartered in Mississippi it later moved to Virginia. The company grew fast by acquiring other companies such as MCI Communications in 1998 and UUNET technology in 1996. Other companies acquired included, Metromedia in 1992, esurgens Communications Group in 1993. In the course of this acquisition spree, WorldCom undertook two complex takeovers. The first was the 1998 acquisition of CompuServe from H& Block where it retained the network division, sold off the online service to American Online (AOL) and the second, the acquisition of Digex in 2001, and disposed of all Digex assets to Allegiance Telecom (Kaplan & Kiron, 2004). With these acquisitions, it gained a favorable reputation in the market as a company with a solid foundation.

Facts of the WorldCom Case

The WorldCom fraud case is one of the…

Tesco’s Fraud in the Accounting Information System

The Accounting Information Systems (AIS) plays a central part in the business computing structure of any organization. AIS deals with the classification, collection, storage, monitoring, and conversion of the company’s data into information utilized for internal control and reporting (Smith, 2016). Once an organization adopts an Accounting Information System, they can keep accurate records, and manage the assets of the organizations properly. The management utilizes AIS to guarantee that there are suitable access and separation of duty controls. With such restrictions, the administration can hold the employees responsible for their interaction with the system. This paper delves into how the components and functions of Tesco’s accounting information system contributed to the 2014 fraud scandal.

Tesco’s Fraud Scandal

Tesco is popular grocery retailer with its head office in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, U.K. (Colson, 2017). Globally, it is ranked at position nine regarding revenues…

Corporate communications involves not just the message, but the idea that communications are managed, and are connected to corporate objectives (Cornelissen, 2004). Therefore, when communication possibilities were limited, corporate options were limited, and one did not see communications management perspectives that advocated the type of intimate connection between communications and corporate strategy that one sees in a modern context (Cornelissen, 2004). What this makes clear is that CC is not simply, or even primarily, about communications; it is an overall corporate strategy that helps define how a corporation interacts with the world.

The emphasis on communication is very different from how corporations were traditionally, historically structured. Traditionally, strategic planning occurred at the top of the corporate structure, management was considered a mid-level activity, and operational control was the function of first-level management, and this corporate strategy was used in most workplaces (Oliver, 1997). However, as institutional hierarchies were challenged and…

Fannie Mae Scandal

Fannie Mae is the second largest government sponsored U.S. financial institution engaged in mortgage finance after Citigroup Inc. An investigation lasting for eight long months by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight or OFHEO revealed massive manipulation of earnings that have been engineered to fulfill Wall Street expectations and smooth volatility in earnings from one quarter to next quarter. The revelations deserve quick corrective action announced by the Director of the Agency in a letter to the Board members of Fannie Mae. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also inspecting the books of accounts of Fannie Mae. However, a statement issued by Fannie Mae states that the company has modified its employment contracts with the three top ranking executives i.e. The Chairman and Chief Executive, Franklin aines, Chief Operating Officer Daniel Mudd and Chief Financial Officer, Timothy Howard to make sure that in the event their…

Sears Auto Center Scandal

When the Sears Auto Center changed its compensation policies for auto center employees in 1991, it didn't expect to become embroiled in lawsuit and scandal over predatory practices. Their new policies devalued quality mechanical repairs and honesty and instead favored employees who were willing to compromise their honesty to make a sale or complete more work. Successful employees made lots of sales and lots of repairs, regardless of whether the cars that drove through the auto center doors really needed them. In short, employees were required to compromise their ethical standards or lose pay. In implementing their new compensation policies, the Sears Auto Center changed its focus from customer satisfaction and quality work, to profits by any means necessary. Quality work or sound advice was no longer valued, and customers could trust what they were told to be accurate.

The root of the issue lay in…

The company showed a global reach early, adding numerous language versions around the world. In 2000, the company reached 18 million search queries per day and officially became the world's largest search engine ("Google, Inc." paras. 11-14).

The company now sought to address its need for income by introducing a keyword-targeted advertising program for another source of revenue. The company partnered with Yahoo! And with other partners, such as China's leading portal NetEast and NEC's BIGLOBE in Japan. Google introduced Adords, a self-service advertising program that could be activated with a credit card. By December of 2000, Google received more than 60 million searches per day and reached the 100-million search mark per day in 2001 ("Google, Inc." paras. 15-16).

Google as a Public Company

Google would offer an IPO of stock beginning in 2004. McShane and Von Glinow cite Google as a successful company, especially in terms of navigating…

Sarbanes-Oxley stipulates criminal and civil penalties for securities violations. Also, it mandates auditor independence from the interests of the firm, meaning that accountants cannot have a financial interest in the success or failure of the firm. Additionally, it mandates the certification of internal audit work by external auditors and mandates increased disclosure regarding executive compensation, insider trading and financial statements, in the interest of making more information public to investors. ("Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance," Technet 2005) Although the act is not a panacea, increased objectivity on the part of auditors and greater insistence on free and fair disclosure on the part of firms will hopefully ameliorate the some of the hiding of vital information that created the climate of secrecy within the firms of Enron and orldCom that helped give rise to the 2002 scandals.

orks Cited

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance." (2005) Technet. Retrieved on 23 Oct 2005 at http://www.techlistings.net/xlist/tech/bizsoft/compliance/sox?id=1

Sarbanes-Oxley. (2002) Law retrieved…

Business Ethics

Every company has corporate governance initiatives in place. Consider that corporate governance simply refers to how the company is run and controlled. The current usage of the buzzword derives from the issues that a few companies had where executives or managers were not subject to appropriate levels of governance. Thus, the guidelines issued recently by the OECD, the ASX, the Combined Code and in Sarbanes-Oxley serve to institutionalize stronger corporate governance policies in order to strengthen public confidence in capital markets. Most companies would already be following these guidelines.

For example, the first category covered by the Combined Code is about the Board of Governors. Boards of Governors have always been responsible for corporate governance -- for our company not to have any governance policy would imply that it does not have a Board. hat is recommended is that the Board has specific features and structures. One recommendation…

Business Ethics

Corporate Values

Love Canal Scandal

The Love Canal situation dealt with a chemical company that buried there toxic chemical waste and then sold the land that was contaminated. The Hooker Chemical and Plastics, Co. bought a canal that was unfinished because the owner went bankrupt before he got to finish it. Hooker then filled a large area, a 3,200 ft. section of the canal with chemical waste. It wasn't Hooker alone who dumped in this area. In the same period, several other chemical companies as well as The City of Niagara alls also were also adding to the waste. Hooker claims to have chosen this site for hazardous waste due to the clay composition in the subsoil and the fact that not many people lived nearby. The company reported to have buried approximately 21,800 tons of chemical waste in the canal.

The company later sold the land for…

Business Society and Corporate Values

There has indeed been a great deal of discussion regarding CEO compensation, which is rightly viewed as being completely out of line. The core problem and cause of inflated CEO salaries cannot be attributed to a single reason, but is rather the result of a range of inter-connected factors. What is definitive is the fact that these salaries have inflated over time; this is in part due to the fact that greed is a progressive, boundless factor. "According to the Economic Policy Institute, in the late 1970s, total compensation of chief executives in large American corporations was 35 times that of the average American worker. In 2007, it was 275 times that" (Borger, 2007). These facts alone demonstrate that there is good reason to be in a state of alarm. The reasons for such severely inflated and remarkably unjust salaries are a result of the…

Climate change is also described as global warming, the unnatural or manmade cause of the planet’s increase in temperature. Climate change is physically caused by the release of greenhouse gases which get trapped in the atmosphere, in turn trapping heat from the sun on the planet (Meyer & Roser, 2006). Other pollutants can cause problems for the environment as well, such as toxins released into the water from chemical plants, or nuclear meltdowns that result in oceans being poisoned. These are also lumped in with climate change, since they also alter the environment. One of the biggest producers This paper will describe how climate change is occurring, how corporations are involved, and what some companies are doing to address it.

A Poore, Williams and Tracey (2000) note, sea levels are rising as a result of climate change. This occurs because the heat trapped on the planet by greenhouse gases leads…

ole modern accountant Corporate & Global Business the paper Double Spaced Times New oman Font Size

In many ways, the role of the modern accountant in corporate and global business has substantially changed from that in previous times. The effects of globalization are ever increasing; thus, it is necessary for accountants to be cognizant of global developments more than ever. Additionally, the financial crisis of 2008 has resulted in significant regulations that have changed the way that accounting is practiced to include a greater degree of transparency for all parties involved: company representatives, stockholders, and regulators. Due to these developments, one can argue that the role of the accountant has never been more important than it is in contemporary society, especially when one considers that in addition to newer developments accountants are also charged with the primary responsibilities that they have always had.

From an extremely pragmatic standpoint, accountants are…

Corporate Misconduct

Recently, there have been a multitude of high-profile corporate scandals involving companies that were once well-respected. Generally, these corporate scandals related to corporate loans to insiders as well as to insider trading and accounting scandals (i.e., over-inflating income in order to please Wall Street analysts and shareholders). Examples of companies involved in such scandals include Arthur Andersen LLP, Enron, Global Crossing, and WorldCom. Not only do these corporate scandals hurt a company's profitability and reputation, but such scandals also de-moralize society and result in financial difficulties for employees who are laid off.

This paper analyzes and examines high-profile corporate unethical and criminal conduct. Part outlines Enron's corporate and individual unethical and criminal conduct. Finally, this paper concludes with recommendations for avoiding ethical dilemmas and criminal conduct.

ENRON'S CORPORATE AND NDVDUAL UNETHCAL AND CRMNAL CONDUCT

Perhaps the most recent high-profile corporate scandal involving unethical and criminal conduct is Enron,…

However, because of the costliness of this requirement, many believe it is especially unfair to small businesses who are already struggling to be competitive in an increasingly hypercompetitive, globalized economy.

As such, small, public companies have been given a temporary reprieve from some of Section 404's strict and costly requirements. In addition, there have been new guidelines set forth for auditors, with a hopes of reducing the cost of compliance of the Section, for all companies (Basilio, 2007; Grumet, 2007).

Bradford and Brazel (2007) note that these costs due indeed seem to be decreasing. In research they quote from AM, organizations spent $4.5 million on compliance with the Act, in 2004. This was reduced to $3.8 million in 2005, and further decreased to $2.9 million in 2006.

However, despite these decreasing total costs of compliance, the Act is still a costly requirement for public companies. Bradford and Brazel (2007) further…

Best Ethical Approaches and Alternatives

Frankly, the Satyam case is not one that requires splitting the proverbial hairs sometimes associated with more complex ethical analyses. Virtually every known ethical system other than egoism would condemn aju's conduct (osenstand, 2008; Shaw & Barry, 2007). Unfortunately, the magnitude of the harm caused and the vast numbers of individuals detrimentally affected by aju's subterfuge absolutely defies any conceivable ethical solution that relies on restitution or compensation to the victims.

In the Satyam case, aju would not benefit from any of the ethical systems considered. Act utilitarian ethical analysis would condemn aju's actions simply by virtue of their consequences on the countless victims of his conduct. ights-based ethical analysis would reach the same conclusion regardless of whether the system relies on objective or conventional ethical rules. Justice-based ethics would condemn aju's conduct because it violated both objective ethical principles and the formal rules governing…

Tylenol Scandal 1982

How did the hospital or facility respond?

Johnson & Johnson made a decision that would set a new standard for crisis involving product tampering (Hogue (2001), p. 1). Once the connection was made between the Tylenol capsules and the reported deaths, public announcements were made warning people about the consumption of the product. Johnson & Johnson was faced with the dilemma of the best way to deal with the problem without destroying the reputation of the company and its most profitable product (The Tylenol Crisis, 1982 (2008), p. 1). Johnson & Johnson chairman, James urke, reacted to the negative media coverage by forming a seven-member strategy team. The team's strategy guidance from urke was first, "How do we protect the people?" And second "How do we save this product?" (Crisis Communication Strategies, p. 2). The company's first reaction was to immediately alert consumers across the nation, via…

Once it was announced, the board asked Keyworth to resign. At that point, Perkins also quit in a huff. ut that was not all. He also launched a campaign in order to try and discredit Dunn, who he believed had betrayed his trust.

It seems that the charges brought against Dunn are largely the result of Perkins's disinformation and discrediting campaign against her. Perkins is an enormously wealthy, powerful individual, who not only sent out a mass e-mail attempting to discredit Dunn - an e-mail that was said to have influenced the media - but also went to law enforcement officials alongside his lawyers in order to convince them that she had orchestrated an investigation that included the use of pretexting as a method. In the words of Dunn, "If you have enough money and you're willing to spend enough, you can buy and sell somebody's reputation." Apparently, this is…

In contrast, within the firm, the entrepreneur directs production and coordinates without intervention of a price mechanism; but, if production is regulated by price movements, production could be carried on without any organization at all, well might we ask, why is there any organization?" (Coase, 1937, p. 387) In simpler words if markets are so efficient why do firms exist? Coase explains, "the operation of a market costs something [such as the costs of negotiating and concluding a separate contract for each exchange transaction] and by forming an organization and allowing some authority (an "entrepreneur") to direct the resources, certain marketing costs are saved" (Coase, 1937, p. 391). Thus, firms actually present greater efficiency over markets by decreasing such costs.

That being said, if firms are so efficient, why are markets needed? (Coase, 1937). As per Coase, as the firm grows (when the entrepreneur processes additional transactions), decreasing returns to…

Ethics

Corporate Governance & Business Ethics

It is quite interesting to note that, academic research in business ethics was a totally distinct discipline from research in corporate governance, and the application of the word 'ethics' was uncommon in available research on corporate governance. The chief responsibility of corporate governance was understood to be safeguarding the benefits of the shareholders. Because of the severance between ownership and management, and the incapability of the independent owners to supervise the performances of those managers, a possibility was available for vital strategic decisions to be taken which would advantageous for the managers to a more larger extent compared to the owners. For example, takeovers not related to the organization's core competence outcome in a bigger corporation, however, it does not result in a more profitable company all the time. Certainly, research has proved that extremely increased extent of isolated diversification normally resulted in lower…

Starbucks Tax

The United Kingdom is one of the largest markets in the world for Starbucks, with over 700 stores, by far the largest in Europe. The company ran into a scandal, however, when it was revealed that the company was not paying taxes in the UK, but was rather paying the taxes in the Netherlands and Switzerland, which has a much lower tax rate. Some politicians decided to make a name for themselves by attacking the foreign company (Starbucks' major competitors in the UK are local chains Costa and Caffe Nero, both domestic companies). The ensuing negative publicity hurt Starbucks' sales, which fell below ?400 million for the first time since 1998 (Campbell, 2014).

The Case

At issue is the fact that the UK signed into membership with the European Union. The EU established rules that allowed companies to headquarter in one European country and operate subsidiaries in another…