An International Meeting of the American Accounting Association American Accounting Association 2006 Annual Meeting August 6–9, 2006 Washington, D.C.

Alan Reinstein
Wayne State University

Stephen R. Moehrle
University of Missouri - St. Louis

Jennifer Reynolds - Moehrle
University of Missouri - St. Louis

Abstract: The business world and the accounting profession have experienced several high profile scandals recently, where responsible accountants and other executives could have saved themselves, many investors and others severe personal and financial loss by considering the costs of improper or immoral behavior. This concept is not new. Throughout history, people have taken actions that cost them their freedom, their money and most importantly, their good names. Upon reflection, many of these people are astounded at the seriousness of their action given what little they had to gain from continued involvement. The purpose of this paper is to reinforce lessons that should be learned from cases of business malfeasance. In highlighting many well-known accounting and other scandals, we first develop recurrent themes in the nature of business scandals. We show that many people are responsible for or complicit in the malfeasance.

These individuals could have prevented the fraud or minimized a

Back to Session Listing

AAA Home Page