Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Essay examples

According to Benston (1977) an unaware public pays for government-required accounting disclosure. Sunstein (1999) claims that disclosure of information allows the federal government to control public and private conduct. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Over the decades accounting regulations have come from various sources. The Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Internal Revenue Service and Interstate Commerce Commission are examples of regulatory bodies that promulgate accounting regulations. A more recent example occurred during the 1970s. During the Watergate era there were a number of investigations, some of which affected American business. One of the investigations, conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1975, revealed that 19 publiclyheld corporations had made illegal campaign contributions and that these contributions were made from cash accounts that had not been recorded on the corporation’s books. (Heldack, 1977) This prompted the SEC to launch an investigation into what were considered ―questionable payments.‖ What came out of the investigation was that many U.S. multinational corporations were making hundreds of millions of dollars in ―questionable payments‖ to foreign officials to obtain business. As a result, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was unanimously adopted by Congress in 1977. Bribery of foreign officials to obtain business for the corporation

Since 1977, the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA have applied to all U.S. persons and certain foreign issuers of securities. With the enactment of certain amendments in 1998, the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA now also apply to foreign firms and persons who cause, directly or through agents, an act in furtherance of such a corrupt payment to take place within the territory of the United States.

* U.S. governmental oversight of accounting fraud and abuse and its effect on the company Potential corruption schemes to be aware of in the company

Each of these jurisdictions works together to keep aspects of FCPA from being violated. This law is not always prohibiting all payments to the foreign officials. The FCPA has an exception for anti-bribery prohibitions and that is called “ routine government action.” This exception is also given the names “facilitating” or “ grease payment.” The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act defines this “routine government action” as for a foreign official to perform in obtaining permits, licenses, or other official documents that enable then to do business in that country, processing government papers such as visa and work orders, protection services and conducting inspections, and anything that has similar nature (6). The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) has two affirmative defenses and they consist of assertion that payment in question was lawful under the laws of the foreign country, and the assertion that the payment was valued a bona fide expenditure (6). This affirmative defense is aimed to be for the issuer, domestic concern, or other person. In this affirmative defense there must be some type of written law authorizing or supporting the payment. The penalties for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are different from the provision that they fall under. For an individual and it is from the anti bribery

When U.S business are thinking about going abroad, they need to be aware of the other country’s laws and regulations. “All businesses must, of course, follow the laws of the countries in which they are physically present and operating. Businesses may also be required, even in their foreign operations, to continue to follow certain laws of their home country. Also, businesses operating across national borders will also be subject to international law (Tony McAdams, 2014)”.

While reading this case analysis, The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act came into discussion as an underlying factor in Weihardt’s decision. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was enacted for the purpose of making it unlawful for certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business. This practice applies to Weinhardt in the fact that he was given the opportunity to give Lee a bribe to obtain Lees’ business.

Evidence of bribery or erroneous accounting is enough proof for the government to file a case against an individual or company regardless of intent, under the FCPA laws (Clayton, 2011). There are three types of improper violations for the anti-bribery provision and they include: the issuer, domestic concern, the foreign national and businesses. The issuers are the ones that are registered in the US or are required to file Security and Exchange Commission. Domestic concern is any person or business that has their place of business in the US or is under the US law. Lastly, the foreign nationals and business in which deals with corrupt payments that are made in the United States, there are also the third parties and agents that are as well included and have the same conditions apply to them as they do to the issuer, domestic concern, and the foreign national and businesses. The second provision that is involved with the FCPA is the Accounting provision and that consist of contracts enforcing Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC enforces the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by bringing the civil actions against the issuers and their officers, directors, employees, and agents. FCPA has two accounting requirements that are recordkeeping and internal controls. The recordkeeping is there to ensure that the books, records, and accounts are held at the standards of what the company should be at. This is designed to cover business

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977- is a U.S. Federal Law that prohibits any U.S. citizen from bribing a foreign official for the purpose of obtaining

Weatherford International LLC is a multinational oil and gas service company founded in 1941. In 2013, they paid over $250 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, the Department of Treasury, and more. This came as the consequence to accusations of “authorized bribes and other kickbacks to foreign official to win business overseas” (Barlyn). Although this may seem like a lofty fine, perhaps it was not enough to deter the company from further fraudulent and unethical behaviors. This would not be Weatherford’s last scandal and penalty.

resignation of his advisors, his Attorney General, and others who had worked on the CREEP

In the present day forensic accounting plays a huge role in many of the court cases publicized by the media. With the spotlight on the profession, this is a good opportunity to discuss the following topics:

Watergate was the name of the biggest political scandal in United States history. It included various illegal activities constructed to help President Richard Nixon win reelection in the 1972 presidential elections. Watergate included burglary, wire tapping, violations of campaign financing laws, and sabotage and attempted use of government agencies to harm political opponents. It also involved a cover-up of conduct. There were about 40 people charged with crimes in the scandal and related crimes. Most of them were convicted by juries or pleaded guilty.

Throughout the years, there has been a constant controversy over whether the World Trade Organization should enforce global free trade. The primary idea is to establish in which all are happy. Although there are many advocates for trade liberalization, as well as many who oppose. I believe free trade may be advantageous for both large and small-industrialized countries, but it does not favor the smaller developing countries needs primarily.

Since the phenomenon of globalization, companies that decided to broaden their horizons have to face multiple challenges and their management functions need some adaptations. While going abroad, companies may become concerned with the subject of corruption that makes the business with foreign countries even more complicated. Even if there is a willingness to fight and reduce the corruption across the world, companies must be aware that this subject exists and must take it into account while dealing with foreign companies, their efforts to understand and adapt to local corruption influencing their success of

The Watergate Affair, is the worst political scandal in U.S. history. It led to the resignation of the president, Richard M. Nixon, after he became implicated in an attempt to cover up the scandal. "The Watergate Affair" refers to the break-in and electronic bugging