Leg500

Whistleblowing and Sarbanes-Oxley

Dattatreya Shodhan

SU200173813

Strayer University

LEG500

Dr.  Charity Lanier

07/17/15

Introduction

Whistleblowers are the people who report any illegal activities within the workplace. Further we shall discuss the key characteristics of a whistleblower and also highlight one such instance happened in the past in one publicly traded company which is JP Morgan Chase Bank and the effect of the whistleblower’s actions on himself and the bank. Lastly, discussing Sarbanes-Oxley Act that protects the shareholders and the general public for reporting the fraudulent practices in the organization, thereby improving the truth of corporate disclosures.

Key Characteristics of Whistleblower and one instance of whistleblowing in a publicly traded company.

Ethics are the values and principle that each company uses to govern its activities and decisions. It has become an extremely important aspect of a company’s culture. There are many different reasons which decrease the morale of an employee that causes them to act unethically which is a common practice in some companies. According to Effects of a Lack of ethics in a business environment, “Larger companies sometimes decide that breaking laws and paying the fines involves lower costs than the financial gain made from breaking those laws.” There are employees who are loyal to the law, the community and the society. They report any illegal activities in their knowledge within the workplace and this group is known as whistleblowers. (Zeiger, 2010)

Whistleblowers plays an important role in protecting a corporation from unethical operations but also can be a problem for the whistleblower in its future employment. There are many cases where whistleblowers have played a...