Wk 5 Discussion (Reporting & Disclosure Requirements) - Post 3

PLEASE COMMENT ON THE BELOW POST FROM A CLASSMATE (200 WORDS WITH REFERENCES)

1:11 – Whistle blowers are under attack.  If you do a google search for whistle blower retaliation cases, you can get a list of many cases.  Bank of America fired employees they suspected would speak out about fraudulent activity.  Wells Fargo fired employees who reported fraudulent activity.  JP Morgan Chase made it impossible for a whistle blower to find new employment.  Even still, it is important that if you see something, say something.  The sooner the fraudulent activity is reported, the less damage it will cause. 

10:22 – Whistle blowers are brave. I agree that whistle blowers are brave.  When you decide to report an incident, there are a lot of unknowns.  You don’t know how the person you tell will receive the information, you don’t know if there will be any retaliation.  You don’t  know if you will be demoted, fired, or exposed as the whistle blower.  Any of these can have a huge impact on your career and family.  If the company is large, it can have an impact on the industry, which can get a lot of publicity.  A person’s motives can be questioned even if the person was only trying to be truthful. 

The last company I worked consistently had management remind employees there was a whistle blower number available to them.  It was also posted in every break room.  It was very important to the company because there was an incident with a Mozambique Country Office Director who was misappropriating funds.  The employees in that office were afraid to report it.  It took a couple of years before the auditors were able to detect an issue.  The company ended up filing criminal charges and he was arrested. 

https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-career/7-companies-that-attempted-to-silence-whistleblowers.html/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.