Case 1 ENRON: WHAT CAUSED THE ETHICAL COLLAPSE? case summary | Kenneth Lay, former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Enron Corp., claimed to be a moral and ethical leader and exhorted Enron’s officers and employees to be highly ethical in their decisions and actions. In addition, the Enron Code of Ethics specified that “An employee shall not conduct himself or herself in a manner which directly or indirectly would be detrimental to the best interests of the Company or in a manner
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The Enron scandal • Enron, the 7th largest U.S. Company in 2001, filed for bankruptcy in December 2001. • Enron investors and retirees were left with worthless stock. • Enron was charged with securities fraud (fraudulent manipulation of publicly reported financial results, lying to SEC…) • Enron was a Houston-based natural gas pipeline company formed by merger in 1985. • By early 2001, Enron had morphed into the 7th largest U.S. Company, and the largest U.S. buyer/seller of natural
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Ethics in Business Saint Leo University February 26, 2012 Abstract Ethics in business is as important as the business model itself. A company can become very successful without a strict adherence to ethics. However, that success is often short lived. As children we are taught a basic understanding of ethics. We are taught to share, play nice, and not to cheat. However, somewhere along the way ethics seems to take a backseat to the dollar. In the government’s case, not only is ethics losing
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Financial Reporting Research In many cases, a business is not successful without a well-organized financial branch of their company. Whether it is a small business and reporting is done by the owner or if it is a large business that has a financial department, a company needs to know if it is making a profit. Modern accounting is believed to have begun around 1494 A.D. Book keeping entered into the Unites States in late 19th century. The first accounting exam was held by and organization in
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Ethics in Management Accounting What are ethics? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, ethics are defined as, “Rules or behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad.” Ethics are rooted in an individual or an entire group’s moral values that govern daily behavior and crucial decisions. From a professional perspective, ethics provide a given quality and ensures a fair practice. In terms of business, it is the moral duties and obligations that apply to various professions and their
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TAB B TOPICS: THE CASE OF ENRON REQUIRED: After reading the case and articles in the Tab B readings, answer the questions below. You should download this document and include the question above your answer to make it easier to grade. Your answers should be in complete sentences. Based on the nature of the questions, one or two short paragraphs for each question should be adequate. You should print out your article write-up and submit it in class on the due date. 1. What was
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business and up until recently accounting was considered to have some of the highest standards for ethical and moral conduct in business. In recent years there have been many high profile business failures caused by the unethical behavior or accountants and accounting firms. Since some major companies, like Enron were involved in serious financial scandals, there has been a push to increase regulation and oversight over financial reporting. At one time accounting professionals were believed to have the
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Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 U.S. Senator Paul Sarbnes of Maryland and U.S. Representative Michael Oxley of Ohio followed a series of corporate failures, which inacted the SOX Act based on Enron’s bankruptcy and other key organizations such as Worldcom, Tyco, Xerox, and Adelphia who were among the United States organizations executives in the headlines for misdemeanors and multi-billion dollar reassertions," (Dembinski, Lager, Cornford, Bonvin, 2005). The Sarbanes-Oxley
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Enron Leadership Orientations Case Analysis Enron’s company culture will be evaluated using four leadership frameworks: Structural, Political, Human resource, and Symbolic. The structural framework will evaluate the architectural and structural design of the organization, its units and subunits, roles and rules, goals and policies. The political framework will evaluate the struggles Enron faced for power and advantage and the competitiveness and scarce resources that create challenge. The human
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Director Notes From Enron To Lehman Brothers Lessons for Boards From Recent Corporate Governance Failures by Frederick D. Lipman In order for boards to fulfill their oversight obligations, the organizations they serve must have robust whistleblower and compliance policies and programs to encourage reporting that can help identify risk exposures, fraud, or other illegal activity. This report identifies common pitfalls in many current whistleblower and compliance programs, and it offers recommendations
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