Corporate Governance, Financial Crime, Ethics and Control

Running head: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, FINANCIAL CRIME, ETHICS AND
CONTROL
Corporate governance, financial crime, ethics and control
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, FINANCIAL CRIME, ETHICS AND CONTROL
The term “ethics” has derived from the Greek work “ethos” meaning character,
custom, habit and disposition. Any business entity cannot survive without proper code of
conduct that is ethical conduct is necessary for the smooth functioning of the business in the
long run (Weiss,2014). Unethical conduct leads to doom of the business in future time.
Ethical theories are set to determine what is right and what is wrong for the given situation.
Unethical people are not meant for long run success and their fallout is obvious. Here the
main focus will be on business ethics and their related ethical theories.
Business ethics deals with the study of appropriate business policies and use of fair
business practices in areas of controversial issues including corporate governance, bribery,
discrimination, insider trading, fiduciary and corporate social responsibility. Business ethics
are set of rules and regulations that lead to fair and correct decision making for the business
and help in its sustenance in the market (Pearson,2017). A well-established set of business
ethics help in better relationship building between business entities and customers and also
among other market rulers. In order to have optimal effect business ethics are subdivided into
a number of ethical theories such as normative and descriptive. Descriptive theory simply
describes ethical phenomenon. while normative theory provides general principles and
behavioural rules. Descriptive approach describes the moral behaviour of group and societies
through empirical research to uncover moral beliefs (Weiss,2014). Normative ethical theories
prescribe the morally right way of acting in situational crisis. Right and wrong action are
decided upon normative theory. The consequentialists support utilitarianism, egoism and
hedonism, it is based on moral judgement of action outcomes. The non-consequentialists
support deontology and agent’s virtue. The diagram below shows the relationship between
the two.
Non-consequentialist ethics consequentialist ethics
The utilitarianism theory is applicable where an action is morally right if and only
if it results in greatest amount of happiness to the people at large being affected by the action
consequences (Hoffman, Frederick & Schwartz,2014). The worth of an action is not
equivalent to the worth of the agent associated to it. The net worth of the act is decided upon
motivation/duties/principles action outcomes

2CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, FINANCIAL CRIME, ETHICS AND CONTROL
the happiness it brings to the larger part of the society. Egoism is limited to only individual
self that is it depicts the relationship between correct moral action and self-interest of the
individuals (Bowie,2017). If the moral action brings self-satisfaction then its good and right.
Individual virtue, well-being, self-interest and such parameters if met then the decision is
ethical and the person has no responsibility in the welfare of the business or the society at
large. Hedonism is the doctrine that tells pleasure is the sole good and man for that reason
seeks pleasure and this leads to them doing good because they belief pleasure is intrinsically
good. Though this illusion is partially correct because sometimes pleasure lead to pain (taking
drugs, getting drunk for relief and pleasure and mocking other people) (Trevino &
Nelson,2016). The non- consequentialist theory of deontology is all about moral judgement
on the moral duty of the underlying action and its intrinsic features. Whether one is right or
wrong is independent of the action consequences. Happiness is conditional because the
reason for one’s happiness may not be the reason for the other to be happy. The power of
“goodwill” varies from person to person but the reason alone could be universal. The agents
virtue is all about morally good character (Ferrell & Fraedrich,2015). Good disposition
analyses the rightness or wrongness of the choices in terms of character of the agent making
the said choices. In order to achieve excellence, one need to practice good deeds. Rational
deliberation of choice making is the most important factor in the agents virtue theory (Crane
& Matten,2016). People thought of doing good but at times that good is no good only a vice.
The theory adopted by Jho Low is the theory of hedonism and a bit of agent’s virtue is
also associated to it. Jho low consciously and deliberately have done the misdeeds the frauds
the money laundering cases. His sole aim was self-satisfaction. He was not at all concerned
about the position of the business but only tried to fulfil his dreams of becoming super rich
and his own demands of having a lot of money. He used some fellow partner of his for doing
the misdeeds, himself remaining out of the limelight. Doing good for himself that is
satisfying his hunger for money has led to the fallout of a number of businesses. He
deliberately used his power of manipulation and strategized ways beforehand. As if he was
somewhat aware of the dire consequences in near future but did not stop from doing the
guilty pleasure-seeking deeds. Fraud triangle is a framework which is designed to elaborate
the reason behind the decision made by any worker in committing workplace fraud and guilty
(Basu,2014). The main factors contributing to fraud triangle is pressure, opportunity and
rationalization. The factor of pressure may be individualistic or business related. The person
may be under debt pressure, lifestyle pressure or any other unethical means like gambling etc
pressure. Such difficult to solve situations lead the person to commit crime and frauds. Next