Legislated Ethics: From Enron to Sarbanes-Oxley, the Impact on Corporate America

This paper explores the financial reporting scandals of the past decade and the resulting U.S. legislative attempts to impose ethical behavior and control the incidence of new reporting problems via the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. We begin with a brief historical perspective followed by assertions of ethical consequences of legislation with discussions of key recent corporate scandals, the motives for the frauds, and the consequences. Ethics related provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are discussed with the potential impact of the legislation on the likelihood of similar future frauds and accompanying prognosis for future corporate ethical behavior.

[1]  Antonio Davila,et al.  Performance Measurement and Control Systems for Implementing Strategy: Text and Cases , 1999 .

[2]  R. Buchholz,et al.  Business Ethics: The Pragmatic Path Beyond Principles to Process , 1997 .

[3]  E. Schein.  Organizational Culture and Leadership , 1991 .

[4]  B. J. McWhirter.  Securities Exchange Act of 1934 , 1984 .

[5]  John Dobson,et al.  The role of ethics in global corporate culture , 1990 .

[6]  R. Sims,et al.  Enron Ethics (Or: Culture Matters More than Codes) , 2003 .

[7]  J. Kotter,et al.  Corporate Culture and Performance , 1992 .

[8]  James A. Waters,et al.  The moral dimension of organizational culture , 1987 .

[9]  E. Schein.  The Corporate Culture Survival Guide , 1999 .

[10]  R. L. Park.  Fall from Grace , 1996 .

[11]  N HoltRobert,et al.  The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act , 1981 .

[12]  Robert W. Rouse.  Renewing the covenant with investors , 2000 .

[13]  Louis V. Jr. Gerstner,et al.  WHO SAYS ELEPHANTS CAN'T DANCE? , 2002 .

[14]  J. M. Cook,et al.  The Liability Crisis in the United States: Impact on the Accounting Profession , 1992 .

[15]  Robert C. Solomon,et al.  Corporate Roles, Personal Virtues: An Aristotelean Approach to Business Ethics , 1991, Business Ethics Quarterly.

[16]  F. Zimring,et al.  Crime, Justice, and the Savings and Loan Crisis , 1993, Crime and Justice.

[17]  A. R. Wyatt.  Accounting Professionalism—They Just Don't Get It! , 2004 .

[18]  I. Hilmi Elifoglu,et al.  AU ‐C 240 Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit , 2003, Wiley Practitioner's Guide to GAAS 2021.

[19]  Joseph A. Petrick,et al.  The Enron Scandal and the Neglect of Management Integrity Capacity , 2003 .

[20]  Michael Perino.  Did the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act Work , 2002 .