Dishonest Corporate Executives, Managers and Owners

Essay by briscoUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, February 2005

download word file, 3 pages 4.0

Today's business world is certainly full of honest and dishonest corporate executives, managers and owners. Recently, a lot of media attention has been given to the dishonest acts of corporate executives working for some very large American corporations such as Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc., to name a couple. This has certainly overshadowed the decent, hard work put in daily by thousands of corporate executives. -Due to heightened awareness of these corrupt acts, I strongly believe it's necessary for the federal government to expand and strengthen oversight of corporate finances-.

While it's possible that some of the blame cast upon suspected fraudulent business leaders is politically based, I believe these executives shouldn't fear court appearances or legislation if they have nothing to hide. This applies to our President and Vice President if their practices are investigated. Following September 11, 2001, our nation focused on striking back against the terrorists that attacked us on our own soil.

The events of that day have had a lingering effect on our economy and I know President Bush wants to build the American economy back to the strength it's so well known for. He must find a way to restore the American people's faith in the economy. That's very hard for him to do when business executives are swindling, embezzling and cheating their stockholders. In a July 31, 2002 Wall Street Journal article1, Bush is quoted as saying, "We refuse to allow fear to undermine our economy. And we will not allow fraud to undermine it either." He has signed legislation into effect that will give the government a better oversight of corporate finances.

This legislation will bring the accounting industry under federal control and provide stiffer penalties for corporate executives who intentionally misrepresent their companies' finances. Even the popular Martha Stewart has...