Book Review I want to share with my readers a review of my accounting ethics textbook that was just published in The CPA Journal. I am proud to say the review highly recommends the book. This is the sixth edition of my book that spans more than twenty years of... Read more →

What Should Be Included in Your Code of Ethics? I have previously blogged about the importance of establishing an ethical culture in an organization to support the code of ethics. A code is meaningless unless top management models ethical behavior in every action and decision made. Purpose of a Code... Read more →

Has COVID Caused a Decline in Corporate Governance The case for business ethics has been well demonstrated through the costs and impacts of the repeated high-profile cases of corporate greed and misconduct. Often those integrity failures are a result of individuals crossing ethical boundaries as well as ignoring or circumventing... Read more →

Will Whistleblowers Still Come Forward? A new SEC rule interpretation threatens to weaken the incentive for external whistleblowers to come forward with details about potential corporate fraud. The clarification states that a whistleblower’s tip has to offer insight “beyond what would be reasonably apparent” to the agency from publicly available... Read more →

Building an Ethical Workplace Environment By Victoria Delgadillo, September 30, 2020 The following guest blog was written by Victoria Delgadillo, a student at Pepperdine University. The Broken Window Theory has recently been applied to enhance organizational culture in the workplace. It holds that a company should take care of the... Read more →

Fraud: Behavioral Attributes and Detection No one can deny that fraud is increasing in organizations. Most recently, there have been multiple disclosures of fraud in the government's loan program that is designed to help small businesses navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals who are engaged in occupational fraud schemes often... Read more →

Workplace Ethics and Doing the Right Thing I have blogged before about why good people sometimes do bad things in the workplace. Otherwise ethical people make the wrong turn or are influenced by others that are ethically-challenged. Perhaps people take the easy way out and don’t stand up for what... Read more →

ACFE 2020 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse The 2020 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse developed by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners examined 2,504 cases of fraud in 125 countries causing $3.6 billion losses. The results are an eye-opener with respect to... Read more →

Boeing 737 Max Ethical Violations The $ 2 trillion stimulus package passed by Congress includes funds for Boeing Corporation. The company had lobbied Congress for at least $60 billion for itself and a large supplier network to cushion against the effects of the pandemic. Boeing is concerned about canceled orders... Read more →

Mental Wellness Promotes Productivity, Happiness and a Meaningful Workplace Experience There are a variety of definitions of mental wellness. In a piece by Mike Nichols posted in Opinion, he addresses one definition by Dr. Jane Myers of the University of North Carolina. Dr. Myers, one of the founders of the... Read more →