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Submit a ProposalResisting Corporate Corruption
 | Lessons in Practical Ethics from the Enron Wreckage By Stephen V. Arbogast Copyright: 2008 | Status: Published ISBN: 9780976404149 | Hardcover | 1.5 lbs 260 pages Price: $64 USD  |
One Line Description
These 17 practical case studies describe the pivotal moments that led to the destruction of Enron and shows how managers could have resisted the ethical slide.
Audience
1. Professionals specializing in audit or financial control advisory work.
2. Business executives at all levels who want to learn about practical business ethics.
3. Business and law students preparing for careers.
1. Professionals specializing in audit or financial control advisory work.
2. Business executives at all levels who want to learn about practical business ethics.
3. Business and law students preparing for careers.
Description
Read the Journal of Business Ethics review. (PDF)
As scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and elsewhere became public, American business schools came under attack within a highly disciplined corporate culture, the author has extracted from the wreckage case studies that chart Enron's descent into fraud and asks readers and students to consider how it could have been different.
These 17 practical case studies don't just retell the Enron story-- they select pivotal moments when key individuals faced decisions that could carry the firm across another threshold of ethical decomposition. Readers will get the opportunity to stand in the shoes of the young Ken Lay as he pondered how to handle Enron's first trading scandal. They will have the opportunity to consider how to oppose Jeff Skilling's plans to introduce Mark-to-Market accounting and Andy Fastow's ever-more aggressive use of Special Purpose Entities. Finally, they will have a chance to reconsider the tactics adopted by those who did resist. For example, was Sherron Watkins right to take her concerns to Ken Lay, or should she have made her case elsewhere?
These cases capture the daunting financial complexity that masked Enron's problems for years. They are also constructed with an eye on the conflicting business, organizational and personal objectives that complicate real world ethics questions. As each case makes clear, ethics in the business world comes wrapped in practical matters that can make 'going along' seem the smart move. These cases will provide students with practice in maintaining their ethical bearings in the face of such for inadequate ethical formation of the country's up-and-coming managers. A less obvious but related problem has been the lack of realistic ethical training material.
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Read the Journal of Business Ethics review. (PDF)
As scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and elsewhere became public, American business schools came under attack within a highly disciplined corporate culture, the author has extracted from the wreckage case studies that chart Enron's descent into fraud and asks readers and students to consider how it could have been different.
These 17 practical case studies don't just retell the Enron story-- they select pivotal moments when key individuals faced decisions that could carry the firm across another threshold of ethical decomposition. Readers will get the opportunity to stand in the shoes of the young Ken Lay as he pondered how to handle Enron's first trading scandal. They will have the opportunity to consider how to oppose Jeff Skilling's plans to introduce Mark-to-Market accounting and Andy Fastow's ever-more aggressive use of Special Purpose Entities. Finally, they will have a chance to reconsider the tactics adopted by those who did resist. For example, was Sherron Watkins right to take her concerns to Ken Lay, or should she have made her case elsewhere?
These cases capture the daunting financial complexity that masked Enron's problems for years. They are also constructed with an eye on the conflicting business, organizational and personal objectives that complicate real world ethics questions. As each case makes clear, ethics in the business world comes wrapped in practical matters that can make 'going along' seem the smart move. These cases will provide students with practice in maintaining their ethical bearings in the face of such for inadequate ethical formation of the country's up-and-coming managers. A less obvious but related problem has been the lack of realistic ethical training material.
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Reviews
"This admirable 'case study' of the internal decay and ultimate collapse of Enron is an excellent text for a Business School course in management and a valuable supplement for a Law School course in legal ethics in corporate settings.
Professor Arbogast's basic points are that:
Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., Professor of Law, Hastings College of the Law, University of California, and Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania.
"This admirable 'case study' of the internal decay and ultimate collapse of Enron is an excellent text for a Business School course in management and a valuable supplement for a Law School course in legal ethics in corporate settings.
Professor Arbogast's basic points are that:
- Internal managerial and financial integrity, 'corporate ethics,' is not 'do good' ethical window-dressing but is essential for business success.
- Ambitious managers at all levels are under continual incentives to deviate and evade controls, requiring pro-active counter-strategies that 'trust and verify.'
- Managerial integrity must be continuously demonstrated by top management and monitored through controls sustained at all levels.
Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., Professor of Law, Hastings College of the Law, University of California, and Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania.
"Extensive research was done in these case studies to reveal the subtleties of corporate opposition to the truth. Rarely will employees do wrong when asked to do so outright, but when an inappropriate course of action is masked properly, it is rare for employees to challenge it. Readers of Arbogast's book will benefit from the authenticity and accuracy of the cases, hopefully helping them in their careers to either avoid or prevent another Enron from happening."
Sherron S. Watkins, former Vice President of Enron, Time Person of the Year 2002, the Year of the Whistleblowers.
Sherron S. Watkins, former Vice President of Enron, Time Person of the Year 2002, the Year of the Whistleblowers.
"Enron was both a terrible tragedy and an opportunity to learn. The work of Steven Arbogast will be extremely helpful in bringing ethics and ethical dilemma to life of all ages and nationalities."
J. Frank Brown, Dean on INSEAD Business School, France
J. Frank Brown, Dean on INSEAD Business School, France
"Arbogast has created a remarkable book by dedicating the study of ethical decision process within the context of Enron through a set of cases that address interconnected issues. In doing so he has captured the rich complexity of the problem of ethics that is seldom communicated or appreciated."
Krishna Dhir, Dean of the Campbell School of Business at Berry College, Georgia
Krishna Dhir, Dean of the Campbell School of Business at Berry College, Georgia
"Stephen V. Arbogast has produced an exciting book on corporate corruption that is a ‘must read’ for all professors and practitioners, and a ‘must use’ for all professors and students, of ethical decision making. This book will specifically benefit those readers who wish to move beyond intellectualizing ethical dilemmas and seek to enlighten themselves on the practice of ethical decision making…...
Arbogast’s book, with its novel approach of tracing the mechanisms and exploring in depth the dynamics of ethical issues through their evolutionary path within a single firm, offers corporate executives a resource that is most urgently needed and in doing so he has captured the richness of the problem of ethics that is seldom communicated or appreciated…..
Arbogast’s book makes an exceptional contribution to the ethics literature. Arbogast succeeds in addressing the evolutionary nature of ethical problems through chronological arrangement of inter-related cases, all drawn from a single firm, to illustrate how one compromise leads to another resulting in a debacle."
Journal of Business Ethics
Journal of Business Ethics
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Author / Editor Details
Stephen V. Arbogast is Executive Professor of Finance, Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, Texas. From 1972 to 2004 he worked for Exxon and ExxonMobil Corporation and his last position there was Treasurer of the Global Chemical Division.
Stephen V. Arbogast is Executive Professor of Finance, Bauer College of Business, University of Houston, Texas. From 1972 to 2004 he worked for Exxon and ExxonMobil Corporation and his last position there was Treasurer of the Global Chemical Division.
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Table of Contents
Preface
Essay 1: Overview of the Case Studies and How to Approach Them
Case Study 1: Enron Oil Trading (A): Untimely Problems from Valhalla
Essay 2: How to Do an Ethics Case Study
Case Study 2: Enron Oil Trading (B): The Future of Enron Internal Audit
Case Study 3: Enron Oil Trading(C): An Opening for Enron Audit?
Essay 3: Necessary Ammunition: Financial Control s Economic Rationale
Case Study 4: Enter Mark to Market (A): Exit Accounting Integrity?
Case Study 5: Enter Mark to Market (B): Accounting & the Aggressive Client
Case Study 6: Enter Mark to Market (C): The Disease Spreads to Enron Clean Fuels
Case Study 7: Adjusting the Forward Curve in the Back Room (A)
Case Study 8: Adjusting the Forward Curve (B): Managing the Showdown Meeting
Case Study 9: Enron s SPE s: A Vehicle too Far?
Case Study 10: Jeff Skilling and LJM (A): The "Shoot the Moon" Meeting
Case Study 11: Jeff Skilling and LJM (B): Managing the Meeting s Aftermath
Case Study 12: New Counsel for Andy Fastow (A)
Case Study 13: New Counsel for Andy Fastow (B): Attorney Responsibility to Report Fraud
Case Study 14: Nowhere to Go with "the Probability of Ruin"
Case Study 15: Lay Back--‚¬--and Say What?
Case Study 16: "Whistleblowing" before Imploding in Accounting Scandals
Case Study 17: Investigating Accounting Improprieties at Jayen Corporation
Conclusion: Ethical Lessons from the Enron File
A Note on Sources
Indices
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Preface
Essay 1: Overview of the Case Studies and How to Approach Them
Case Study 1: Enron Oil Trading (A): Untimely Problems from Valhalla
Essay 2: How to Do an Ethics Case Study
Case Study 2: Enron Oil Trading (B): The Future of Enron Internal Audit
Case Study 3: Enron Oil Trading(C): An Opening for Enron Audit?
Essay 3: Necessary Ammunition: Financial Control s Economic Rationale
Case Study 4: Enter Mark to Market (A): Exit Accounting Integrity?
Case Study 5: Enter Mark to Market (B): Accounting & the Aggressive Client
Case Study 6: Enter Mark to Market (C): The Disease Spreads to Enron Clean Fuels
Case Study 7: Adjusting the Forward Curve in the Back Room (A)
Case Study 8: Adjusting the Forward Curve (B): Managing the Showdown Meeting
Case Study 9: Enron s SPE s: A Vehicle too Far?
Case Study 10: Jeff Skilling and LJM (A): The "Shoot the Moon" Meeting
Case Study 11: Jeff Skilling and LJM (B): Managing the Meeting s Aftermath
Case Study 12: New Counsel for Andy Fastow (A)
Case Study 13: New Counsel for Andy Fastow (B): Attorney Responsibility to Report Fraud
Case Study 14: Nowhere to Go with "the Probability of Ruin"
Case Study 15: Lay Back--‚¬--and Say What?
Case Study 16: "Whistleblowing" before Imploding in Accounting Scandals
Case Study 17: Investigating Accounting Improprieties at Jayen Corporation
Conclusion: Ethical Lessons from the Enron File
A Note on Sources
Indices
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BISAC SUBJECT HEADINGS
BUS008000: Business Ethics
BUS001010: Accounting/Financial
BUS085000: Organizational Behavior
BIC CODES
KJG: Business Ethics
KFCF: Financial Accounting
KJR: Corporate Governance and Responsibilities
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