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ethics paper on enron
enron code of ethics summary
Kenneth Lay, former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Enron Corp
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I. Introduction Corporate fraud, greed, corruption, what company comes to mind when you hear those words? Enron! In this paper, we will take a look into the corporate facts and history as well as, stakeholder relationships, organizational trust issues, ethical leadership and ethical culture at Enron. As well as where improvements could have been made to improve organizational trust and ethical culture before Enron’s collapse. II. Corporate Facts and History According to the Texas State Historical Association, organized in Omaha, Nebraska in 1930, InterNorth began as Northern Natural Gas Company.1 With revenues up to $7.5, it was one of the nation 's premier pipeline networks. 1 To avoid potential takeover from corporate raiders, CEO Sam …show more content…
Enron did have a code of ethics according to the Ivey Business Journal, “the code stressed the following four key principles: communication, respect, integrity and excellence, and included phrases such as “we treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves”, “we do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment” and “we work with customers and prospects openly, honestly and sincerely””.4 I think one way Enron could have improved organizational trust is by following its own code of ethics. I also think Enron could have improved by following proper accounting practices as well as not misleading employees and shareholders on the financial state the company was really in. I also think top executives should have paid better attention to the financial reports, I don’t understand how they could have been so blind as to what was going on as some have claimed. I think it is the responsibility of someone at the top to know what is going on financially, I would think they would have to look at the financials when approving bonuses. It is too late to save Enron, but other corporations can use this as a great case study on what not to do. VII. Conclusion The Enron case is very intriguing case of corporate corruption and greed. As we review some of the company’s facts and history along with other areas of the corporation, we can see that this case is filled with great examples of business ethics put to the
On the surface, the motives behind decisions and events leading to Enron’s downfall appear simple enough: individual and collective greed born in an atmosphere of market euphoria and corporate arrogance. Hardly anyone—the company, its employees, analysts or individual investors—wanted to believe the company was too good to be true. So, for a while, hardly anyone did. Many kept on buying the stock, the corporate mantra and the dream. In the meantime, the company made many high-risk deals, some of which were outside the company’s typical asset risk control process. Many went sour in the early months of 2001 as Enron’s stock price and debt rating imploded because of loss of investor and creditor trust. Methods the company used to disclose its complicated financial dealings were all wrong and downright deceptive. The company’s lack of accuracy in reporting its financial affairs, followed by financial restatements disclosing billions of dollars of omitted liabilities and losses, contributed to its downfall. The whole affair happened under the watchful eye of Arthur Andersen LLP, which kept a whole floor of auditors assigned at Enron year-round.
Applying the idea of moral goodness with business, however, is often a contradictory concept in lieu of the malicious and often scandalous behavior that businesses are notoriously publicized with. Enron, an energy company based out of Houston, Texas, is perhaps the most popular of scandals of the century thus far. Their name is synonymous with corporate fraud and corruption after the allegations of accounting fraud hit the headlines in 2001. The scandal was also considered a landmark case in the field of business fraud and brought into question the accounting practices of many corporations throughout the US (Raslan, 2009). Under this shroud of deceptive business practices and activities, applying the idea of moral goodness with business is a difficult sell to readers.
Many organizations have been destroyed or heavily damaged financially and took a hit in terms of reputation, for example, Enron. The word Ethics is derived from a Greek word called Ethos, meaning “The character or values particular to a specific person, people, culture or movement” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2007, p. 295). Ethics has always played and will continue to play a huge role within the corporate world. Ethics is one of the important topics that are debated at lengths without reaching a conclusion, since there isn’t a right or wrong answer. It’s basically depends on how each individual perceives a particular situation. Over the past few years we have seen very poor unethical business practices by companies like Enron, which has affected many stakeholders. Poor unethical practices affect the society in many ways; employees lose their job, investors lose their money, and the country’s economy gets affected. This leads to people start losing confidence in the economy and the organizations that are being run by the so-called “educated” top executives that had one goal in their minds, personal gain. When Enron entered the scene in the mid-1980s, it was little more than a stodgy energy distribution system. Ten years later, it was a multi-billion dollar corporation, considered the poster child of the “new economy” for its willingness to use technology and the Internet in managing energy. Fifteen years later, the company is filing for bankruptcy on the heels of a massive financial collapse, likely the largest in corporate America’s history. As this paper is being written, the scope of Enron collapse is still being researched, poked and prodded. It will take years to determine what, exactly; the impact of the demise of this energy giant will be both on the industry and the
In short, it was determined that communication ethics lay at the crux of these cases and others (Neher, W. W. Sandin, P.J., 2007, p. 253). In the process, these companies reputation is been damage and spend millions of dollars to repair their image and spending millions of more on court battles. In the public response, Enron scandal rippled through financial markets an Enron stock fell from $85 to 30 cents in 2001 which can be attribute to communication in the work place (Neher, W. W. Sandin, P.J., 2007, p.
Ethical behavior is behavior that a person considers to be appropriate. A person’s moral principals are shaped from birth, and developed overtime throughout the person’s life. There are many factors that can influence what a person believes whats is right, or what is wrong. Some factors are a person’s family, religious beliefs, culture, and experiences. In business it is of great importance for an employee to understand how to act ethically to prevent a company from being sued, and receiving criticism from the public while bringing in profits for the company. (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, & Langvardt, 2010) Business ethics is when ethical behavior is applied in an business environment, or by a business. There are many situations that can arise in which a person is experiencing an ethical dilemma. They have to choose between standing by their own personal ethical standards or to comply with their companies ethical standards. In some instances some have to choose whether to serve their own personal interests, or the interest of the company. In this essay I will be examining the financial events surrounding Bernie Madoff, and the events surrounding Enron.
I do not condone Enron’s deceptive accounting shenanigans. While they had been originally made their decisions in the name of the greater good, however, in spite of this massive display of
Many studies demonstrated how traditional ethical settings led to the unethical behavior and financial scandals of Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen. Satava, Caldwell, and Richards (2006) studied profiles of firms that included the accounting fraud. The researchers demonstrated the gap between constituted rules and its implementation in practice using the Enron and Arthur Andersen example (p. 271). The accounting profession has to possess the truthfulness and completeness of financial statements. The investors make their decisions relying upon the auditor’s conclusion. Therefore, auditors are considered with the highest integrity and public trust. Unfortunately, the example of Enron and Arthur Andersen demonstrates the fundamental problem
The second part of our paper is discussing the case of the Worldcom, a US company that was leading by a fraud. The largest company provider of internet-based communication services and the second largest long-distance telephone company in the US, WorldCom became one of the most popular case studies for corporate ethics, financial frauds and senior management irresponsibility along with Enron.
The dilemma shows that although there are leading people in all corporations most leaders cannot be trusted with big responsibilities. Choosing this real life scandal educates me in what is happening in my major of business and it also opens my eyes to what essentially can happen in big corporations like Enron. Pondering on this dilemma allows me to bring up a different approach. Asking why those leaders weren’t caught in the beginning? In a small business like a sporting store or grocery store thefts are caught at hand and penalized for their wrong doings. This turns into a leadership dilemma we are faced with the questions of, what those leaders of Enron believed to be right and wrong or in their heads what was right and right.
Unethical accounting practices involving Enron date back to 1987. Enron’s use of creative accounting involved moving profits from one period to another to manipulate earnings. Anderson, Enron’s auditor, investigated and reported these unusual transactions to Enron’s audit committee, but failed to discuss the illegality of the acts (Girioux, 2008). Enron decided the act was immaterial and Anderson went along with their decision. At this point, the auditor’s should have reevaluated their risk assessment of Enron’s internal controls in light of how this matter was handled and the risks Enron was willing to take The history of unethical accounting practic...
CEO Kenneth Lay’s ambition for ENRON a company he had helped form went beyond the business of piping gas. Enron went to become the largest natural gas merchant in North America and the United Kingdom. But the reality is, this company business model never worked. This was a company that was so desperate to win Wall Street 's respect that it kept it stocks shares prices going up despite the losses it was incurring in order for executives to keep lining their own pockets. Over the course of this Case Assignment, I will identify the examples of financial reporting misconduct, I will explain the deontological as well as a utilitarian ethical perspective and lastly I will identify the stakeholders likely to be affected by that misconduct.
The Enron Corporation was an American energy company that provided natural gas, electricity, and communications to its customers both wholesale and retail globally and in the northwestern United States (Ferrell, et al, 2013). Top executives, prestigious law firms, trusted accounting firms, the largest banks in the finance industry, the board of directors, and other high powered people, all played a part in the biggest most popular scandal that shook the faith of the American people in big business and the stock market with the demise of one of the top Fortune 500 companies that made billions of dollars through illegal and unethical gains (Ferrell, et al, 2013). Many shareholders, employees, and investors lost their entire life savings, investments,
In the aftermath of Enron, Washington Mutual Bank, TYCO, and World Comm these companies went against the grain of what good ethical behavior is and what their respective company’s code of ethics were. The criminal justice system has made it clear that it will not allow companies and their executives to get away with the misuse of public trust by allowing them to make themselves rich at the expense of the employee. Where these crimes are both ethically and morally wrong, the CEO’s of major corporations are being punished by a ...
The main ethical issue with the Enron scandal is that Enron allowed legal loopholes to supersede ethical principles (Bowen & Heath, 2005). Enron used legal principles to justify what they were doing instead of acknowledging that the accounting processes they were using were unethical. Another one of the ethical issues is that Enron faced was that
There are many lessons a business owner can learn from the Andersen/Enron scandal, the only lesson would not be that honesty is the best policy, but also that a dishonest action made by a few people can affect many. Enron’s insider trading and failure to report accurate earnings and losses paired with Andersen’s failure to properly audit and report the company’s debts and earnings made for one of the biggest scandals that the business world has ever seen. Enron used SPE’s or Special Purpose Entities to mask the large amounts of debt that they had acquired overtime