Every now and then scandals in the business world rock the nation. Certainly thi

Every now and then scandals in the business world rock the nation. Certainly this was true in the first decade of the 2000s when the activities of Enron Corporation AIG and a number of other companies came to light. As noted in several chapters in this unit Congress responded to public outcry in 2002 by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which imposed stricter requirements on corporations with respect to accounting practices and statements made in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The lesson for the business world is of course that if business leaders do not behave ethically (and legally) the government will create new laws and regulations that force them to do so. We offered suggestions on how business decision makers can create an ethical workplace in Chapter 5. Here we look at selected areas in which the relationships within specific business organizational forms may raise ethical issues.