Abstract: There are many lessons in the global business history of last ten / fifteen years that maintaining integrity and practicing business ethics are paramount for sustainable success in businesses. The business scandals over this period refer to the recurrent issues rooted in management style, organizational behavior, finance and accounting which call for practicing the established business ethics in letter and spirit. The most of the scandals pertained to withholding information about financial troubles, improper use of reserves and acquisition accounting, revenue and earnings inflation, revenue and expense recognition, use of off-balance-sheet entities, accounting for the transfer of loans, loans and looting, artificial increase of cash flow and profits, backdating of sales contracts and accounting for vendors’ allowances and financing.
It must prompt the good institutions to introduce detailed code of ethics covering all areas relating to truthfulness, integrity, commitment and value creation for the society. Any code of business ethics must fulfill the basic requirements of the valid contracts and businesses. Besides, it must ensure complete disclosure and transparency, integrity, competence, diligence, respect for all stakeholders including public, clients, employers, employees, shareholders, co-investors, and other in the markets. It has to encompass all the areas of finance and accounting, production, marketing and trading.