The Importance of Law in Society
The law serves as a standard and a direction for citizens' behavior, making it important for society. The social groupings would be in fierce conflict if there was no law. For business purposes, a corporation has the same legal standing as a person because it is legally regarded as an artificial being (Seaquist, 2012). As a result of affecting businesses, a person or organization that commits a crime has a substantial impact on civil society. The society's innocent members can be pressured to pay a steep price for the crime that was committed.
The Negative Effect of Crimes Committed by Businesses and Individuals
Both businesses and individuals that commit crimes, in my opinion, pose a serious threat to society. However, in terms of the number of people and things to be affected, a crime committed by a corporation presents the greatest negative effect on society. When an illegal act is committed by a company, employees, shareholders, creditors, and the general public would be adversely affected. It cannot be equated to a crime committed by an individual as it would only have an impact on them personally and immediate persons close to that individual.
The Case of Enron Corporation's Fraud
A good example is the case of the famous Enron Corporation's fraud in 2001. The senior managers such as the accounting officer Skilling among others led by the Corporation Chairman and CEO Ken Lay propelled the occurrence of the greatest fraud crime of the time (Partington, 2011). Through the newly accounting method called "mark-to-market", introduced by Skilling, the company's financial statements were inflated to claim an exaggerated figure that attracted many investors. The latter thought that the company was performing great and, therefore, they expected to obtain huge returns. However, their invested millions of US dollars had already being embezzled by the Enron's senior management. The company claimed bankruptcy and many employees lost their jobs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that a crime committed by a corporation causes the greatest threat to society. As shown in the example, such acts cause the great loss of invested money, the unemployment of former workers, and the failure to offer reliable services to the communities.
References
Partington, R. (2011). The Enron cast: Where are they now? Financial News. Retrieved from http://www.efinancialnews.com/story/2011-12-01/enron-ten-years-on-where-they-are-now.
Seaquist, G. (2012). Business law for managers. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Walsh, D. Retrieved from https://content.ashfor.edu/.
