“There Is No Such Thing As Business Ethics,” a book by John C. Maxwell, points out three major scandals, focusing on the white-collar crimes of Enron, Adelphia Communications and Tyco. The author has clearly made the statement that individual cases of fraud show even more damage to business ethics. It begins in a very matter-of-fact but informal tone assessing major ethical violations. His first task is the most famous of all: Enron. For those unfamiliar, he points out that on November 1, 2001, Enron confessed to accounting actions that caused Enron’s revenue inflation. Over a four-year period, they inflated their revenue by $586 million. Following this, Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As if this was not enough, the executives knew the state of the company. They used this information to sell more than $1 billion of their own shares in the company while encouraging their employees to hold on to their shares.

The next topic that Maxwell reviews in his book is the financial slippage of Adelphia Communications. He discovers how Adelphia Communications broadcasts financial problems. This broadcast took place on March 27, 2002. John Rigas -the company’s founder- and his sons were charged shortly after using the company’s assets as collateral for their own personal loans used for family projects, for purchases private, all of which amounted to $3.1 billion. It wasn’t until after Rigas was removed that the company had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Conclusively, he reports that on June 3, 2002, Adelphia was delisted from the NASDAQ, bringing with it a sense of sickening disdain for relations. corruptions that these businesses have formed.

His last major white-collar crime review took place the same day Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco’s chief executive, was indicted by the Manhattan district attorney. He had evaded more than $1 million in sales tax on things like artwork and personal items purchased with company money, approximately $600 million taken from the company. Maxwell leaves the facts alone for the reader to understand, alleviating any purple prose, since his subject doesn’t need any. He uses additional data from sources like Time magazine. In their July 22, 2002 publication, they provided statistics that supported America’s distrust of the growing number of companies deceiving their employees and the general public through white-collar crime.

Taking into consideration the Codex GBX Standards, the author leaves the reader with the understanding that these specific scandals show the violation of the second and fifth principles, the principles of transparency and citizenship. We know there are attempts to defraud, not just from individuals through private fraud and embezzlement schemes, but from massive numbers of shareholders in supposedly legitimate operations. Beyond that, corporate executives violate transparency by hiding these schemes and citizens by lying and resisting government investigation, which was particularly evident in the Enron case. Thus, we are forced to agree with Maxwell’s disturbing truth about white-collar crime: it is despicable and must be stopped.