Ethics in the Last (and Next) Financial Crisis

Since the financial debacle of 2008 and the fallout it caused to our economic infrastructure, we have seen increased concern for corporate moral and social responsibility worldwide. Meanwhile companies previously held in high esteem are subject to ever-greater scrutiny of organizational behavior and ethical leadership practices. Unethical behavior has a high cost: lack of trust on the part of customers, the public as well as employees. Diminishing loyalties yield decreased profits and disengaged employees. Based on Professor Richard Bowen’s true life experience and client case studies, this session focuses on the costs of unethical leadership and the steps an organization needs to take to instill guiding principles that become part of the corporate culture. It points out the dangers inherent to an absence of ethical culture, and how to prevent this from happening within today’s organizations. The talk is relevant for professionals and students alike, in accounting, finance, business, management and related areas.

Chair: Professor Kate Kenny, NUI Galway and Whitaker Institute

This event is hosted by the Whitaker Institute in association with the Accounting and Finance and Management Disciplines at the JE Cairnes School of Business and Economics

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About Professor Richard Bowen

Richard Bowen was a business chief underwriter at Citigroup who discovered that billions of dollars annually of defective mortgages were being sold to investors in securitizations as quality mortgages. He warned management repeatedly for 18 months about possible unrecognized financial losses. Richard then warned Citi’s board of directors and requested an outside investigation, resulting in his being placed on administrative leave and instructed not to return to the bank.

He provided evidence to the SEC three months before the bank bailouts and gave nationally televised testimony before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, where he witnessed coordinated efforts to hide key parts of his testimony from the American public. His story was featured in the 60 Minutes story “Prosecuting Wall Street,” which aired December 4, 2011 with an audience of 12 million viewers and has since been re-aired on CBS and CNBC eight times. Richard is presently a professor of accounting at the University of Texas at Dallas and is a well-known speaker on ethical leadership and the financial crisis.  www.richardmbowen.com

See also:

PBS Documentary: ‘The Whistleblower’ (26 mins) available online

Media articles:

https://www.richardmbowen.com/the-men-who-stole-the-world-and-got-away-with-it/

https://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/product/KEL852-PDF-ENG Educators access to the case

https://www.thirteen.org/programs/playing-rules-ethics-work/playing-rules-ethics-work-whistleblower/

Book: Business Ethics Lessons Learned … A Citigroup Whistleblower’s Perspective

https://www.amazon.com/Business-Ethics-Lesson-Learned-Whistleblowers/dp/1546477276/

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