Team B
FIN/370
May 23rd, 2013
Brian Mom
Ethics and Compliance
Give me a “W”, give me an “A”, give me an “L”, give me a squiggly, give me an “M”, give me an “A”, give me and ‘R”, give me a “T”. What’s that spell? Wal-Mart. Whose Wal-Mart is it? It’s my Wal-Mart! Who’s number one? The customer! Always! ("Wal-Mart China", n.d.). This is the motto and cheers that Wal-Mart lives by. Don’t be surprised if you hear the associates shouting this loudly and proudly at your local Wal-Mart store. It is one way they show pride in the company and how much they value their customers. In 1962, Sam Walton opened his first store, he implanted many principles and values within the company; respect for the individual, service to the customer and striving for excellence were his 3 basic beliefs. Ethics plays a huge role on why Wal-Mart has been successful and as Sam Walton would say, “Just because we work hard, we don’t have to go around with long faces. It’s sort of a ‘whistle while you work’ philosophy and we work better because of it”. “Personal and moral integrity is one of our basic fundamentals and it has to start with each one of us” spoken from Sam Walton talking to his associates about ethics. About 50 years ago Wal-Mart started out as a discount store and has grown into the world’s largest retailer. “The CEO and all Senior Financial Officers are responsible for full, accurate, fair, timely, and understandable disclosure in the periodic reports required to be filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission” (Walmart Corporate-Governance Documents, 2013). The CEO and Financial Officer have to report any untrue statements or any omission of information pertaining to associates and all areas that affect disclosures made by Wal-Mart in its company findings. The CEO and SFO have to report any deficiencies that could affect associates, financial data or any fraud that is material to internal controls. The CEO and
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