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To: RR who wrote (54343)	8/12/2002 7:16:36 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

Ethics: More scandals coming? The Conference Board Aug. 2002 Corporate ethics officers at major companies say more corporate scandals will likely unfold in the coming year, according to a recent survey by The Conference Board. In fact, some ethics officers expect more than 20 major cases. The majority of ethics officers also said that ethics training wouldn't have helped prevent the scandal that brought down Enron. Only 1 percent of those interviewed felt that ethics training would have prevented the Enron debacle. "These findings show that an absence of ethical leadership and a culture of 'anything goes as long as it makes a buck' will prevail over even the best training, code of conduct or hotline," said Steve Priest of Ethical Leadership Group, which conducted the survey. "This emphasizes the critical importance of building integrity into the essence of the corporation." The Conference Board surveyed nearly 100 senior ethics executives, most of whom work in their company's ethics/compliance, human resources and legal departments. More than 80 percent work for major for-profit companies, while 18 percent work for non-profit organizations. Some other findings: Nearly 60 percent said their own board of directors is not engaged enough in ethics/compliance issues. When asked what happens to great performers who don't live up to their organization's ethics values, 23 percent say such performers are tolerated, 30 percent said they are coached, 18 percent said they are fired and 8 percent said such executives are actually promoted. Nearly 60 percent believe that their ethics/compliance program reduces the likelihood "quite a bit," or "a lot" that a major ethics scandal will take place at their company. Fifty-seven percent said they have never engaged their board of directors in ethics/compliance training. Twenty-two percent said they engage their board of directors in such training once every few years. Seventeen percent said once a year. More than 60 percent said they engage their senior management in ethics/compliance training once a year or every few years. Twenty-three percent said they have never engaged their senior management in ethics/compliance training. More than 80 percent said they have a helpline/hotline to report concerns about ethics issues, 56 percent said they never survey their employees to assess the effectiveness of their programs. Only 20 percent survey their employees once a year on the effectiveness of their programs. Fifty-four percent do not have ethics/compliance measurements in their performance appraisal systems. ____________________________________________ The Conference Board is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, and non-advocacy business membership and research organization based in New York, NY (http://www.conference-board.org).

To: RR who wrote (54343)	8/12/2002 8:52:06 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

Bank One tightens oversight August 12, 2002 (Reuters)—Bank One Corp. on Monday announced steps to tighten corporate oversight to help rebuild investor confidence after a raft of U.S. accounting and management misconduct scandals. The Chicago-based banking company, the country's sixth-biggest, said its board would meet without management present to evaluate the chief executive and make sure directors were truly independent. The bank's audit and risk management committee also would have to approve services and fees provided by Bank One's independent accountants. Accountants have come under fire for compromising their audits to win lucrative consulting fees. Bank One, which has not been tied to any accounting scandals, already led other financial firms in announcing plans to deduct the cost of options from its profits. Investors are pressuring companies to expense stock options and make their books more transparent amid fraud disclosures from firms like bankrupt telecommunications company WorldCom Group . The bank's organization, compensation and nominating committee—which sets executive pay and evaluates the CEO—also will gain responsibility for assessing the ongoing independence of the bank's board members.