Impacts of Unethical Behavior

Check Point: Impacts of Unethical Behavior

I choose to do my checkpoint on Enron because I remember my mom paying that bill when I was younger. I was not aware of the company’s dishonorable behavior. Enron and a few of its employees were charged with preparing inaccurate financial information about the company and its deals with other organizations. The financial statements that Enron gave did not represent the real way Enron was operating, which is how accounting practices were involved. The financial transactions such as cash flow, income, asset values were incorrect. Enron though that they would use these false statements to attract new business, making more profit and assist with getting them out of the “hole” they dug for themselves. It turned out that providing these false statements to organizations curved right into a multi-billion dollar disaster causing Enron to declare bankruptcy and some it’s workers into jail.

I feel that if I were to have been an accountant for this company I would have acted on the irregularities that I had seen. I first would have went to a co-worker, then to a management, to corporate and then to the government. I am pretty sure most of my warnings would have been ignored but you can not just stop when someone tells you too, especially when your job and jail time is on the line.

If Enron’s accountants and employees had not lied or altered their financial statements this controversy would have been prevent, point blank. This whole issue could have been avoided if someone did not try to “beat” the system. The affect of this unethical behavior lead to the bankruptcy of Enron in 2004.

References

Enron Lessons For Everyone; Donna Davis website: http://www.es.northropgrumman.com/ourvalues/articles/assets/Circuit092002.pdf reviewed on January 19, 2011