MAIN Business Office Life Whistleblowing

Although "transparency" and "values" became favorite corporate buzzwords in the 1990's, high-powered boardrooms are, as always, tempted to cross over to the dark side.

Enron employee Sharon Watkins became the most spectacular example of recent corporate whistleblowing when she exposed former Enron chairman and CEO Kenneth Lay's very questionable accounting practices in 2002 -- resulting in thousands of employees losing their retirement and savings plans while corporate officers ran off with the store.

One positive outcome was passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 which made sweeping reforms to corporate governance law, and provided whistleblower protection to employees of public companies. However, the act of whistleblowing is a David-and-Goliath battle still fraught with danger.

If you discover legal improprieties at your company, what do you do?

Find out more about the delicate balance between proper behavior and self-preservation, with tips and advice from business experts and those who've been there, trying their best to keep the corporate world honest:

Career Activist - Whistleblowing The Right Way - Is honesty its own reward? Archived article from the Toronto Star covering the issue with focus on the Enron scandal, its implications on corporations worldwide, with advice to those who are witness to legal improprieties including links to additional help, informaton and resources.

Fairness.com - Whistleblowing - Good overview of whistleblower headline news with links to reports and feature articles dating back to 2002.

GAP - Corporate Accountability - More archived media stories from various sources around the Web, including an overview and summary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and mission statement from the Government Accountability Project.

Encouraging Internal Whistleblowing in Organizations - What should be required reading for all CEO's chronicaling the history of U.S. corporate whistleblowing, it's goats and heroes, a guide to creating an ethical culture, recent legislative action, and suggested reading.

FindLaw > Whistleblowing - An online libary of articles reporting on legislation on the state and federal level, legal advice on dealing with whistleblowers, internal investigations and setting up whistleblower-friendly communications.

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