One way to
measure corporate fraud is look at reported numbers and see if they follow
Benford's law - number sets that are manipulated usually deviate from Benford's law. A
recent analysis of all public companies over the past 50 years has shown a steady upward deviation, strongly suggesting there is more corporate fraud now than ever before (peaked in 2008).
[more inside]
posted by stbalbach
on Oct 13, 2011 -
41 comments
The New York Times published on Sunday a very favorable report on Ken Lay. In it, they argue that he was, at least in part, wrongly chastised for his role in the Enron affair. Apparently, we are to believe that the CEO didn't know what was going on inside the company he ran. After news of the report appeared in numerous U.S. media earlier this week, the BBC today counterattacks
brutally (although perhaps not intentionally), describing some of the most ruthless Enron practices - like placing the combined total salary of the top 200 executives salary at one and a half times the company's total earnings (Lay's went from 15m to 164 mil in that period). My question is simple: just what is going on here?
posted by magullo
on Feb 14, 2003 -
9 comments
You've got Jail is a light hearted, easy summer reading and informative article which explodes the myth that malfeasing CEOs get sent to "Club Fed", a prison so minimum in insecurity that its really like an enforced vacation in the country rather than the
more typical round of
incarceration. Required reading for the Skillings, Rigas, Taubmens and every college student considering an MBA.
(So is the
MeFi fascination with Prison life an
idle one or am I keeping the wrong company?)
posted by BentPenguin
on Jul 30, 2002 -
5 comments
"The bigger the binge, the longer and more severe the hangover." A short history of accounting scandals and fraudulent bankruptcies that follow bubble economies.
posted by raaka
on Jul 10, 2002 -
3 comments
