Is the accountant innocent or sacrifice?

Have your read, "Enron's top accountant gets 5 years"?

Let's assume what had happened. The CEO or director wanted the accountant to cook the account book. If the accountant refused, what would be the outcome? He/she would be fired by any reason, of course.

If it was a fraud that CEO or director wanted to steal money from the corporation, it is simple to know that the beginning would not be so written, something like transferring money for some confidential deals. Could the accountant refuse to follow the order?

So, it was told that such transfer would not be recovered and if case was discovered, everyone involved including the accountant could not stay away from prosecution. Up to such situation, the only way for all, including the innocent accountant had to take more money for any purpose either just to enjoy as much as time allowed or to hide away before being caught.

If you were the accountant of Enron at that time, what other choice you had? Resignation might be the best way out. But remember that before the fraud was discovered, that CEO would not give any good reference to you. Instead, he might put you in hell and no one would hire you. In other words, you were unlucky and sentenced to professional death.

That is the tragedy that we are facing. That is why I have mentioned that accountants are lack of any training to foresee such situation. Worst of all, no one would care for someone who spent years studying hard for a profession and ended without any wrong doing.

A reason for White-collar crime -- The Executive's mistake

My UFAS system has almost completed. Certainly, it has been delayed for a few months from my original planning.

Recently, I have discussed with several professionals and businessmen in Hong Kong. There is one problematic practice that many executives may still have.

They still ask the accountant to prepare invoice. Some of them still have the accountant taking care of the stock.

This reflects a poor management or no management at all. That is the sole reason for some bad accountants to steal money from the companies. Some may argue that their accountants were good and could be trusted. Perhaps they failed to read the recent news that an accountant who had great reference and full trust from his boss. However, he had been good, yet after he started to have a bad habit, hiring female as housekeeper without cloth with huge fee. After spending all his money, he began to take the company's money until nothing left.

That happened because his boss left him alone to take care of everything and without any time looking after what had happened in the company until the very last moment.

It is not something about trusteeship. Instead, it is about management. Anyone who had been good would turn bad with a lot of reasons and enticed to do so with poor governance.

Business is nothing personal. Without a good management, any company will have the risk of white-collar crime.