AAA Spark Meeting of Regions

The Tales of a White Collar Criminal: Can You Ever Ethically Recover?

• In Event: TLC: Ethics, Accounting Education and White Collar Crimes

Abstract

This case study presents guidelines on introducing real-world white-collar fraud scenarios into the classroom utilizing three steps: discovery, presentation, and discussion. This paper encourages educators to incorporate presentations from former white-collar criminals to the classroom discussions. Our case study was tested by inviting our students to a presentation given by former CFO of Enron, Andrew Fastow, about his white-collar crimes. Based on a voluntary survey provided to the students after completion, we found this case study drastically increased student interest in ethics. They reported to gain a new perspective and become more aware of ethical and unethical behaviors; they were better prepared to face ethical dilemmas in the future. This case can be adapted for any former white-collar criminal speaker.

Authors

• Susan A. Henderson, California State University, Fresno

• Tatyana Ryabova, California State University, Fresno