How would you rate your company’s ethical culture? Here’s the good news… the corporate fraud and ethical scandals of the last ten plus years have shown a spotlight on the importance of ethics. According to the 2019 Ethics and Compliance Program Effectiveness Report, based on a survey of 480 ethics, compliance and legal professionals at large… [Read More]
Let’s Get Real!
Authentic is defined as being true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character; no pretensions. Recent studies emphasize that bringing the real you, the whole self, an authentic self to work impacts ethical behavior. According to Maryam Kouchaki’s recent research with Mahdi Ebrahimi and Vanessa Patrick, it seems that “enabling people to bring their whole selves… [Read More]
On my honor… the Compliance or Ethics Debate
Bruce Weinstein, a leadership strategist and consultant, writing in a Forbes magazine article points out that “High character leaders ask, ‘What is required of me,’ but they don’t leave it at that; the highly ethical ones also ask ‘What is the right thing to do?’” They ask: What would an honorable person do, how does… [Read More]
This is Not a fairy tale!!!
All children’s stories start with once upon a time and have heroes and villains. In this case, this story, while it involves children’s books, has a slew of villains who might yet triumph over the heroes. Baltimore’s Mayor Catherine Pugh resigned under pressure last week, after revelations that she made more than $500,000 selling her… [Read More]
How to Stamp Out Fraud!
Is your organization immune from fraud? The 2019 Annual Fraud Conference recently held at the University of Texas at Dallas gave practical steps to assure you are. The conference was an outstanding success and I was honored to have been part of it once again. The conference attendees; internal auditors, CPA’s, faculty and students, learned… [Read More]
Brigham Young University: Practicing What They Preach
It is always a privilege to be invited to speak at a University to accounting and business students and their faculty. This last week I had that honor- of presenting to Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management and Wheatley Institution, to these groups on ethics and how important integrity is in the business world…. [Read More]
Starbucks’ $16 Million Mistake – A Painful & Expensive Lesson!
Recent headlines blasted “Starbucks to Close 8,000 U.S. Stores for Racial-Bias Training After Arrests.” Starbucks executives’ response to the recent arrests in a Philadelphia café are unprecedented. Starbucks is known as a strong company with a concern for its employees and a socially responsible agenda in its community. It has a reputation for excellent customer service…. [Read More]
Can Ethical Principles Become the New Norm?
Pick up a newspaper, read the headlines, turn on your TV set and the prevalent news relates to lying, cheating and stealing. Whether it regards our politicians, business professionals, or local leaders much of our daily input is negative. The trust we put in our elected officials, the media, bankers and business executives is at… [Read More]
The Goldman Sachs Takeover of the Fed!
With the Fed’s latest hiring of Neel Kashkari as President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, Goldman Sach’s former executives will now hold 4 of the 5 Fed President’s seats on the very powerful Federal Open Markets Committee, which is responsible for the formulation of U.S. monetary policy. Before discussing concerns about these appointments, it would… [Read More]
Behavioral Ethics: Too Big To Fail and the Financial Crisis
This coming week, I will be speaking at the annual conference of the American Accounting Association (AAA). AAA is the largest community of accountants in academia; key experts in that field on leading-edge research and publications. They are well known and respected as thought leaders and for shaping the future of accounting through teaching, research… [Read More]
