Subscribe to my Feed
Professional Ethics
« Previous Entries Next Entries »How far can we trust the accounting profession?
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010The Wall Street Journal reports that, earlier today, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Ernst & Young LLP, accusing the accounting firm of helping Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. hide its precarious financial situation from investors before its ultimate collapse in 2008. Cuomo’s suit alleged that Ernst & Young [...]
Make sure your employees know your rules
Monday, November 15th, 2010When Keith Olbermann returned to MSNBC after his brief suspension, he made an even briefer statement about how he came to violate his network’s policy on campaign donations. Apparently, Olbermann wasn’t aware that MSNBC had such a policy. Consequently, he made his donations not realizing that they would get him in hot water [...]
Self-pity is no reason to give in to greed
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010The Wall Street Journal reported last week on a fascinating new study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. In a randomized trial, over 300 resident physicians were asked about the acceptability of receiving gifts from pharmaceutical companies. However, one group was first asked about the sacrifices - lost sleep, long [...]
Is it ethical to make Terry Jones an instant celebrity?
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010I was more than a little appalled to learn that Reverend Terry Jones, pastor of the fifty-member Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Florida, plans publicly to burn copies of the Quran on Saturday to mark the anniversary of the September 11th bombings. Everyone from President Obama to General Petraeus has asked Reverend Jones [...]
Why did HP give Mark Hurd a $37 million severance package?
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010When former CEO Mark Hurd resigned from Hewlett-Packard Co. last week, he joined a lengthy list of top business executives who have stepped down after being accused of personal ethical lapses. Of course, this isn’t HP’s only recent scandal. HP suffered considerable public embarrassment just a few years ago when its chairwoman, Patricia [...]
Is it ethical to overlook a colleague’s incompetence?
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010Let’s take a break from Mel Gibson and the BP oil spill to talk about an issue that may well raise its ugly head in your life sometime soon. Last week, The Washington Post reported in its “The Checkup” blog that a survey conducted by Massuchusetts General Hospital had revealed troubling results. According [...]
Why hasn’t Hearst Corp. helped Helen Thomas apologize?
Thursday, June 10th, 2010Helen Thomas used to be one of the most powerful people in Washington. The grande dame of the White House press corps played a starring role in five decades of Presidential press conferences. She was smart, tough, and articulate, and a worthy challenger to ten different Administrations - until she made some appalling [...]
So, how ethical are those “gotcha” journalists?
Friday, May 28th, 2010We’re taking a break from my Friday series on keeping your business out of court to talk about a question that’s been troubling me for a while. Earlier this week, I wrote about Duchess of York Sara Ferguson’s tacky efforts to profit from her personal connection to her former husband, Prince Andrew of Britain. [...]
Don’t make ethics an afterthought
Friday, May 14th, 2010Continuing my Friday series about keeping your business out of court, let’s discuss a mistake that all too many companies make. Here’s an example:
Minute Co. is a consulting firm dedicated to helping companies improve productivity through time-use analysis. Litigious Ink, a company that manufactures fountain pens, hires Minute Co. to recommend improvements [...]
Don’t play favorites with your employees
Saturday, April 24th, 2010Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s talk about a legal risk that managers take all the time. Unless you’re a sole practitioner, your business has one or more employees and, if you’re human, you’re going to like some of them better than others. That’s fine, but unless [...]
« Previous Entries Next Entries »