It the Code of Ethic & Conducts & Corporate Culture cannot be exhibit & keep up by it's leader's. Then certainly, you don't expect the employees in the corporation to follow.
The recent Walmart incidents of unfair treatments to its employee & the recent case of fake Invoices & Expenses case, Walmart would need to look at the corporation more closely.
As the corporation grow big & aging. If the Leadership quality, Ethics, Business Conducts cannot be up keep, then there is a need for Walmart to relook at its Corporate Culture & re-examine the Ethics & Conducts of Leader's & the management. Then follow by getting the employees to understand & re implement the Walmart Way in Corporationwide. Otherwise, Death is certain.
Wal-Mart Director Is Ousted After Probe
The Sam's Club ex-chief is asked to quit the board after a company inquiry reported evidence of fake invoices and expense accounts.
By Roger Vincent and Kathy M. Kristof
Times Staff Writers
March 26, 2005
Reflecting stricter ethics in corporate America, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. booted its former vice chairman from its board Friday after an internal probe allegedly revealed padded expense reports, fake invoices and unauthorized use of gift cards.
Thomas M. Coughlin, who retired as an executive of the world's largest retailer in January, was asked to resign his post as a director. Three other Wal-Mart employees, including a company executive, were fired. The company said in a regulatory filing that the amounts in question could total $500,000.
It was unclear Friday whether Coughlin, the former chief of Wal-Mart's Sam's Club warehouse stores, was alleged to have personally been involved in the transactions or whether they simply had occurred on his watch.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based company said it reported the results of its investigation to federal officials. A Wal-Mart representative declined to provide further details. Coughlin could not be reached Friday. An assistant to Robert Balfe, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas, declined to comment.
Wal-Mart's move is consistent with federal guidelines that were revised in November in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley law, said attorney Keith Bishop, a former California corporations commissioner and a partner at Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger in Irvine. The new guidelines impose stricter standards on corporate ethics.
"The days of 'hear no evil, speak no evil' are over," Bishop said. "You cannot really stick your head in the sand when you hear that there is misconduct by people in your organization."
Nell Minow, editor of the corporate governance website Corporate Library, said it was important for the board to send a signal to employees, suppliers and customers about potential misconduct. Wal-Mart has long had strict codes of conduct and boasts a bare-bones corporate culture in which executives stay in budget motels and employees are forbidden to accept even token gifts from vendors.
"In case there was any doubt, this makes it clear that we are living in an era of zero tolerance of ethical violations," she said.
Coughlin said in his resignation letter: "I leave with warm feelings for the company and all the people who have made it great. I have appreciated the opportunity to serve."
The 55-year-old Coughlin, who spent decades with Wal-Mart, was once considered a candidate to head the company. He started in 1978 in the security division and eventually oversaw the U.S. Wal-Mart stores, Sam's Club warehouse stores and Walmart.com.
He joined the board in April 2003 and had been a member of the board's executive, strategic planning and finance and stock option committees. He had been expected to step down in June.
Coughlin also serves as lead director on the board of ChoicePoint Inc., the Atlanta-based information broker under fire for security breaches that exposed as many as 145,000 personal data files to identity theft rings.
Los Angeles Times: Wal-Mart Director Is Ousted After Probe
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