Ethics and Complaince

Ethics and Compliance Paper

Raul Huerta, Chris Johnson, Jennifer Kristofer, Angela Perez, David Trujillo, Phyllis Venkataya, and Kylene Yamauchi

Finance for Business-370 – Tony Moses

May 3, 2010

University of Phoenix

Ethics and Compliance

Ever since it was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, Wal-Mart has had the clear purpose of providing customers with a new type of discount shopping. However, this process definitely took time. Ten years after opening the first Wal-Mart this organization went public which allowed gaining the capital that it needed to continue with its expansion. At the end of the 70’s Wal-Mart had expanded from 15 stores to 276 stores in 11 states (Wal-Mart, 2010).

Moreover, Wal-Mart continued its growth through the 80’s and 90’s until it reached its current position as the world’s largest retailer. It now has 8,400 stores, employs more than 2.1 million associates, and it serves more than 176 million customers every year.

The figures that Wal-Mart reaches on a daily basis are definitely impressive, not to mention that no other retailer has been able to match or top those numbers throughout history. However, we must ask ourselves; how this retailer manages to make a profit selling their goods at an extremely low price? How much profit do they make? How do they manage their debt? In order to find answers to these questions we will carefully analyze Wal-Mart’s financial performance in the past two years.

Assess the Role of Ethics and Compliance in Wal Mart’s Financial Environment

Wal Mart holds a strong reputation and compliance of ethics in their financial environment. Financial integrity is a crucial part of Wal Mart’s statement of ethics. “Wal Mart requires all financial information to include only honest and accurate recordings in order to ensure responsible business decisions” (Wal Mart’s Statement of Ethics, 2008, p20). Wal Mart requires all workers to conform other rules and regulations that involve general accounting...