FORMER ENRON CEO Jeffrey Skilling’s nearly quarter-century prison sentence this week should remind corporate bosses everywhere of how risky it can be to break the law.
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. In recent months, dozens of CEOs have found themselves in trouble for manipulating the grant dates of stock options. That scandal hasn’t been a wrecking ball for business like Enron’s massive fraud, but it has thrown corporate ethics and accounting into question at more than 100 companies.