AAA Spark Meeting of the Regions

An Examination of the SEC Investigation that Led to the Passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977

• In Event: Historical Perspectives on Accounting Issues

Abstract

In December 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. The Act was a culmination of actions that grew out of investigations into the infamous Watergate Scandal of 1972. Ultimately, the FCPA found it origins in decades of unreported activities of hundreds of US-based corporations. Those activities, obscured by confusing and misleading accounting practices, were aimed at the coercion and influencing of authorities in foreign governments world-wide. At a time when the United States was involved in a serious self-assessment of its role in world business, the revelations stemming from the SEC investigation would ultimately help to form one of the most important laws impacting the conduct of US business outside the borders of the United States.

Author

• Richard S. Rand, Tennessee Tech University