Financial Crimes

President Bush's Corporate Fraud Task Force

For many years the problem of corporate fraud had become so widespread that President George W Bush created a task force to fight against it. The group is made up of government agencies and overseen by the Deputy Attorney General. The purpose of this task force was described by former Deputy Attorney General Thompson: "As we establish with ever increasing certainty the prospect that corporate criminals will lose both their fortunes and their liberty, we will have gone a long way to restoring the integrity of the market and the confidence of the nation."

Goals of the Task Force

The primary goal of the group is to punish those who have committed acts of corporate fraud and to deter others from committing similar crimes. They have set out to expose corporate examples of corruption and punish all responsible parties, ensure that the executives who were involved in the fraudulent acts are held accountable and devise a better method for auditing large corporations. These activities are designed to make sure investors receive accurate financial information and to protect the investors, employees and pension holders.

A Ten Point Plan

The President and his group of advisor's have put together a plan with ten important parts:

• Any corporation must provide accurate quarterly reports to every investor so that they may have the proper information available to determine if they wish to continue investing.
• Corporations must provide investors with all data that contains essential financial information.
• Any financial statement or claim must be personally backed up and certified by the CEO of the company.
• No CEO or other company executive is ever allowed to receive profit or personal gain from a financial statement that is false or inaccurate in any way.
• Company executives who are guilty of any form of corporate fraud or abuse of their power will no longer be eligible to serve in a leadership capacity.
• The public must be made aware of any buying or selling of stock by corporate executives that are intended for their own personal gain.
• Steps must be taken to ensure that investors are fully confident in the audit process a company must go through.
• Any group that is responsible for independently regulating the records of a corporation must adhere to the highest ethical policies.
• Those who author any standards or guidelines for accounting within a corporation must make time to listen and react to the concerns of every investor.
• The accounting system of a corporation must be held up to the highest standards of accounting principles and practices.

The task fraud and regulations that have been put into place are designed to put a stop to the ongoing problem of corporate fraud. Executives who have been involved in these frauds have been able to make great personal financial gains to the detriment of investors and employees of the companies they run.