When I was in journalism school more than 10 years ago, “Ethics and Issues in Mass Communication” was (and still is) a mandatory course. At most schools, it’s considered as important as, say, a writing class or an editing class; you can’t graduate without it.
While ethics classes are also a mandatory part of most business schools’ curriculums, we are finding lately that many business owners could use a refresher course. Maybe they took it so long ago, they’ve forgotten its value, or, like many entrepreneurs, they never went to business school.
Or, as the case may be with Enron and WorldCom’s CEOs, they probably took the class, but found out through practice that monetary success and high ethical standards are not always correlative.
So just as the economy recovers from the external attacks of last September, the stock market is spiraling again in response to domestic attacks from these CEOs, which are proving to be just as damaging.
Consumers are losing confidence in corporate America and investing elsewhere. But it’s not too late to reverse the trend. Whether you are at a private or public company, you can help stop this downturn by taking a hard look at the ethical standards by which you run your business.
Many leaders in Washington are calling for a stricter watch over CEOs by proposing tougher penalties for rule-breakers, CEO certification of financial statements and a mandatory listing of stock options offered as compensation as an expense.
In addition, many have suggested that businesses keep a stricter watch over their relationships with their accountants. If you use an outside firm to audit your books, you should scrutinize more closely its role as a consultant to your business.
Don’t wait for these ideas to become mandates; put them into action at your company while you still have a choice.
