Creative Accounting Practices at Satyam Computers Limited: A Case Study of India's Enron
Satyam Computers were once the crown jewel of Indian IT industry, however, the debacle of Satyam raised a debate about the role of CEO in driving a company to the heights of success and its relation with the board members and core committees. The scam brought to the light the role of corporate governance (CG) in shaping the protocols related to the working of audit committees and duties of board members. The Satyam scam was a jolt to the market, especially to Satyam stockholders. This paper attempts an in depth analysis of IndiaaEUR(tm)s Enron, Satyam ComputeraEUR(tm)s aEURoecreative accountingaEUR scandal. In public companies, this type of aEUR~creativeaEUR(tm) accounting leading to fraud and investigations are, therefore, launched by the various governmental oversight agencies. The accounting fraud committed by the founders of Satyam in 2009 is a testament to the fact that aEURoethe science of conduct is swayed in large by human greed, ambition, and hunger for power, money, fame and glory.aEUR Scandals have proved that aEURoethere is an urgent need for good conduct based on strong corporate governance, ethics and accounting auditing standards.aEUR The Satyam scandal highlights the importance of securities laws and CG in emerging markets. Indeed, Satyam fraud aEURoespurred the government of India to tighten the CG norms to prevent recurrence of similar frauds in future.aEUR Thus, major financial reporting frauds need to be studied for aEUR~lessons learnedaEUR(tm) and aEUR~strategies to followaEUR(tm) to reduce the incidents of such frauds in the future. The increasing rate of white collar crimes aEURoedemands stiff penalties, exemplary punishments, and effective enforcement of law with the right spirit.aEUR