Whistleblowing Prevents And Detects Fraudulent Activities In Business
While honesty and integrity are the staples of many
businesses, not all companies follow the accounting guidelines provided by the
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). People who blow the whistle on
these companies are doing the right thing and are acting in an ethical manner. Dr.
Gary Bulmash, an accounting professor in the Robert H. Smith School of Business
and an expert on financial accounting and auditing, believes the threat of
whistleblowers acts as a deterrent to companies and individuals who are
contemplating fraudulent acts to gain an illegal advantage. He explains this to
me in an interview:
Also, it protects the stakeholders of a business from any
negative repercussions from the unethical activities. People have the right to
know the truth about what they are investing in, and whistleblowing is an
important factor that helps to protect the truth. Whistleblowing can uncover problems within the
organization, as well as shine the spotlight on larger issues within the
industry.
Whistleblowing Can Have Negative Effects As Well
While whistleblowing brings to light the negative actions
taken by a company or individual, it can also have negative outcomes for the
whistleblower. While laws prohibit a person from being terminated for blowing
the whistle on a company, that person may be viewed as someone who cannot be
trusted, and alienation within the company is a common consequence. There is a
lot of added stress on the whistleblower, which gives witnesses of fraud reason
to not come forward and blow the whistle on the company. In a large enough scandal,
they could be involved in ugly lawsuits for years to come.
One Whistleblower Can Make A BIG Difference
In 2001, a multi-billion dollar scandal was uncovered that
led to the bankruptcy off one of the largest American energy companies. Enron
was cooking its books to hide billions of dollars of debt from failed projects.
These fraudulent and unethical acts by upper management at Enron led the
company to a ridiculously high stock price in 2000. Sherron Watkins, the former
VP of Corporate Development at Enron, is considered the main whistleblower that
uncovered the scandal. She was named as one of Time Magazine’s “People of the Year” in 2002. Had she not come
forward, the scandal could have likely gone unnoticed, and the shareholders
would have continued to be misled. While the company went bankrupt and thousands
of people lost their jobs, Watkins did the ethical act and came forward through
diversity to blow the whistle on the illegal activity.
It Is Important To Act If You Witness Illegal Activities At Work
With the unveiling of large corporate scandals such as Enron
in recent years, new laws have been put into place to protect whistleblowers
from repercussions from doing the right thing. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
provides protection for employees of publicly traded companies who provide
evidence of fraud. It prohibits companies
from discharging, demoting, suspending, threatening, harassing, or discriminating
against the employee who committed the lawful and ethical act of blowing the
whistle on illegal activities. Also, the United States Department of Labor
created a Whistleblower Protection Program that provides
assistance to whistleblowers that may face adversity because of their ethical
actions. As displayed in the graph above, illegal activity in business is not going away. It is imperative that all employees are knowledgeable about fraud and
know that they will be protected for doing the right thing. The following clip is from an anonymous individual on the street, and he explains how he defines whistleblowing. While he has the gist of the definition, it is clear that the general public must be more informed about their options when coming forward to "blow the whistle."