Ethics play a role in everyday business. Many company executives in an attempt to build a profitable organization and build individual wealth are confronted with ethical decisions daily. Penn Square Bank and Dow Corning have both made decisions in their business that started out making millions of dollars but ultimately cost them more than could have been imagined. Unethical decisions cause more than just cash to an organization, the loss of reputation could be even more detrimental.…
Wells Fargo and Company (WFC - Analyst Report) confronts a common claim, documented by Mike Feuer, lawyer of the city of Los Angeles, for unscrupulously treating its workers and clients. Per the recording, the money related fat cat has been blamed for setting illogical deals focuses for its workers, instigating them to embrace false means for meeting the set amounts. Feuer started examining the bank subsequent to perusing a Dec 2013 Times report, in which a few previous and present representatives of Wells Fargo related their encounters of the huge deals weight at the bank.…
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a trade association, which creates regulatory requirements for those who participate in membership (O’Brien, 2012). Ultimately, their primary goal is to ensure organizations are accountable and are acting in a socially responsible way. Thus, they inform consumers of any violations and recognize businesses who perform well. Historically, they have been performing these services since in 1912 as the National Vigilance Committee, but later changed their name to the BBB in 1921 (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2011).…
Former CEO Richard Fuld and 12 other Lehman executives and directors, accused in investor lawsuits of lying about Lehman’s financial condition leading up to the bankruptcy, filed in Federal Bankruptcy Court yesterday requesting a judge release insurance proceeds to pay for settlements. The former executives have agreed to pay $90 million to settle a shareholder suit and $8.25 million in another suit. They are neither admitting or denying wrongdoing.…
Ethics, ethical values, and social responsibility should all work in unison in a corporate business structure. These key traits are better defined as maintaining overall good business morals, obtaining employees who possess personal ethical values, and finally to behave ethically and with sensitivity toward social, cultural, economic and environmental issues. For a business to better ensure these quality business traits a code of ethics should be adopted by the business. In the cases of Bernie Madoff and Enron, the most well-known financial scandals in history, I feel, gave a major hand in pushing business all across America to have and enforce the code of ethics.…
1. Discuss how the issues with the Arthur Anderson case may have played out differently if the Sarbanes-Oxley Act had been enacted in 1999.…
Ethics or the lack thereof, in business, is a very hot topic in our society today. It seems as if, a person cannot turn on the evening news or pick up a newspaper without seeing a story centered on unethical business practices in the workplace. With that being said, an individual might ask the following questions: “Why are so many organizations resorting to unethical business practices and what is fueling these new behaviors”? More importantly, is human resources aware of what is transpiring within their own company?” Additionally, what level of involvement does human resources have in these often highly public but sensitive situations? During my research, pertaining to businesses in the news for unethical behavior I found a very interesting article about Wells Fargo & Company. I found this article particular interesting because I do much of my personal banking at Wells Fargo bank.…
Corruption is defined as dishonest or illegal behavior especially by powerful people (Merriam Webster). There is perhaps no company in our nation’s history that further exemplifies this word than Enron. Enron’s history of fraud, laundering, and deception is now known world-wide, and stands as the lead example for future companies practicing unethical behaviors. Enron’s corrupted culture, cultivated by CEO Jeffrey Skilling, made some very rich while ultimately leaving thousands in ruin.…
Enron was one of America’s leading companies prior to its spectacular collapse in 2001. It was frequently named as one of America’s top 10 most admired corporations and best places to work, and its board was acclaimed one of the US’ best five, according to Fortune magazine. As America’s seventh largest company, Enron experienced explosive growth through the 1990s. It had revenues of US$139 ($184) billion, US$62 ($82) billion in assets and employed more than 30,000 people across 20 countries.…
Enron was the country’s largest trader and marketer for electric and natural gas energy. Its core business was buying energy at a negotiated price and later, selling the energy when prices increased. As an energy broker, Enron provided a service by allowing producers to negotiate a certain price while Enron took the risk that prices would fall below what it bought energy. Buyers of energy also benefited because Enron could ensure the supply of energy. In 2000 Enron was listed number five on the Fortune 500. What happened to the company which was among the most admired for vision and quality thinking? Enron was the company that held virtual assets and not the real assets, such as power stations, which were capital incentive with low returns and ongoing debt.…
This paper will discuss the ethical issues which are being brought to light of a manufacturing organisation. These ethical issues include:…
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was created to prevent fraudulent financial activities, and to provide investors with more accurate financial resources on corporations. Under SOX, companies are held accountable if they fail to maintain the requirements that were set forth in the act. The act requires companies to maintain satisfactory internal control measures, provide responsible financial reports, disclose periodic reports, and establish rules for annual reporting. (Hazels, 2010) These requirements are all part of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Corporations and accounting firms should have already been practicing these principles to uphold ethical behavior. However, the governing bodies charged with monitoring of corporate finances as well as their practices were outdated and that necessitated the reforms outlined in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.…
The code of ethics of the company consists a large portion of text about the general code of ethics which is applied to every individual unit, but it emphasis less on the code for investment banking industry, such as insider dealing, money laundering,…
The corporate Culture at Enron could have contributed to its bankruptcy in many ways. Its corporate culture supported unethical behavior without question for as long as the behavior resulted in monetary gain for the company. It was describe as having a culture of arrogance that led people to believe that they could handle increasingly greater risk without encountering any danger.…
It is perhaps the most compelling business ethics case in a generation—a textbook version of what can go wrong in an organization that lacks a true culture of ethical compliance. Investors and the media once considered Enron to be the company of the future, but as its demise suggests, it was in reality not a particularly modern business organization, especially in its approach to ethics. On the surface, at least, it appeared to reject progressive innovation in governance and ethics programs and instead sought to circumvent systems that were designed to protect the company and its shareholders. The purpose of this report is not to comment on the legal or political ramifications of the case but rather to focus on the business ethics issues raised by the conduct of the company’s directors and officers, its accountants, and lawyers as it is known to date. It is meant to be a reminder that simply having a detailed code of ethics on the books (as Enron certainly did) is not enough. Organizations need to infuse ethics and integrity throughout their corporate culture as well as into their definition of success.…