Jo Ann McGee

The C-Suite and Fraud

Fraud committed by the C-suite is a secret that is rarely discussed. However, C-suite fraud happens with enough regularity to be a major concern for firms (Darvall-Stevens, 2015). The financial debacles of Enron Corporation, Tyco International, WorldCom, and Satyam Computer Services, Ltd. taught us that the C-suite can certainly play a major role in perpetrating white-collar crime (WCC). In each of these environments, the C-suite was either directly or indirectly involved in creating and or approving fraudulent financial statements as well as committing other types of fraud. These actions came at great cost to the firms and those involved with the firms: investors; creditors; and employees, both current and retired. The purpose of this article is to suggest possible safeguards and remedies that an organization can implement to prevent and detect C-suite fraud in order to eliminate the potential cost of WCC for the organization.