Here's a Simple Lesson on Business Ethics From the Former CFO of Enron
Legal and ethical aren't necessarily the same thing.
Former Enron Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow
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Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer of Enron was a speaker at Camp Alphaville, a conference hosted by the Financial Times' well-known finance blog Alphaville. Since leaving prison, he's been talking to business students about ethics in business.
The point he makes, perhaps unsurprisingly, is that business ethics can be a tricky thing. Practices that are perfectly legal and wide-spread can be unethical. While the off-balance sheet transactions that triggered Enron's collapse were approved by the company's lawyers, accountants and management, Fastow said, he nevertheless deserved to go to jail for misleading investors.