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Drivers and Trends

The Development of the Social Conditions and Legal Basis for Dealing with Liability Issues

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Managing Business Integrity

Part of the book series: Management for Professionals ((MANAGPROF))

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Abstract

In the jungle of regulations in economic law many managers, board members, CEOs and supervisory board members lose sight of when they can be held accountable for both personal conduct and conduct of others. Heissner gives a clear and complete overview of urgent accountability issues that leadership and management face, as well as the underlying national and international laws. However, laws and regulations by no means have to be boring. Today’s relevant judicial milestones are often based on spectacular scandals and tales in the history of fraud and corruption, which are presented as a basis here.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    There is a comprehensive range of literature on this special aspect of compliance: a good overview is provided by Moosmayer (2012, p. 3 ff) and Hlavica et al. (2011, Chap. 6).

  2. 2.

    Looking at the situation from a practical perspective and through experience in compliance consulting will show that there are massive pitfalls especially when integrating compliance into normal operations in a company, which are barely covered in the relevant literature or by consulting services.

  3. 3.

    See OLG Stuttgart NJW 1977, p. 1410.

  4. 4.

    See BGH GmbHR 1985, p. 143 and OLG Koblenz ZIP 1991, p. 870.

  5. 5.

    See BGH GmbHR 1985, p. 143 and OLG Koblenz ZIP 1991, p. 870.

  6. 6.

    See the case of Anton Weinmann (MAN) in Sect. 5.1.2.

  7. 7.

    The European Commission imposed fines of 1.4 billion euros against the car glass manufacturers Saint-Gobain, Asahi, Pilkington, and Soliver in 2008 for illicit agreements—the repeat offender Saint-Gobain alone received a fine of 896 million euros. e.on and Gaz de France Suez were fined a total of 1.1 billion euros in 2009 for an infringement of EU antitrust law.

  8. 8.

    BGHZ, p. 135, 244.

  9. 9.

    Ibid.

  10. 10.

    The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) found in the Informatec case in 2004 that the management board were liable to pay compensation due to immoral behavior in accordance with Article 826 of BGB. An incorrect ad-hoc notification had induced shareholders to purchase shares in the company.

  11. 11.

    An Act for the more effectual Prevention and Punishment of Bribery and Corruption of and by Members, Officers, or Servants of Corporations, Councils, Boards, Commissions, or other Public Bodies, August 30,1889.

  12. 12.

    The already faltering share prices on the New York Stock Exchange fell dramatically on October 24, 1929 (commonly known as “Black Friday,” although it actually occurred on a Thursday). The financial crises triggered a global depression with high levels of unemployment that lasted several years. From the high point of the boom period in September 1929 until the lowest point in summer 1932, the Dow Jones index hardly regained more than a tenth of its previous value.

  13. 13.

    The body of evidence against Prince Bernhard was quite overwhelming, there was allegedly even a personal letter from the Prince to Lockheed in which he requested the transfer of a provision to the value of US$1.1 million. However, following a major intervention by the Queen of the Netherlands who threatened to abdicate the throne, the court case was subsequently dropped. In return, Prince Bernhard stepped down from all public offices on August 26, 1976.

  14. 14.

    As of: January 2013.

  15. 15.

    Title of the regulation: Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

  16. 16.

    Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act of 2002.

  17. 17.

    White Collar Crime Penalty Enhancement Act of 2002.

  18. 18.

    Corporate Fraud Accountability Act of 2002.

  19. 19.

    Law to further develop the professional oversight of auditors in the German Law Regulating the Profession of Auditors (Wirtschaftsprüferordnung) of December 27, 2004.

  20. 20.

    Law to strengthen the professional oversight and reform the professional rules in the German Law Regulating the Profession of Auditors (Wirtschaftsprüferordnung) of September 3, 2007.

  21. 21.

    Law to introduce international accounting standards and ensure the quality.

  22. 22.

    Full name: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

  23. 23.

    Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

  24. 24.

    BGBl I, p. 402.

  25. 25.

    Government commission “Corporate Governance—Company Management—Corporate Control—Modernization of the German Corporation Law.”

  26. 26.

    Government commission on the “German Corporate Governance Code”.

  27. 27.

    OLG München Az: 7 U 5628/07.

  28. 28.

    BGH Az: II ZR 174/08.

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  1. Ernst & Young, Cologne, Germany

    Stefan Heissner

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Heissner, S. (2015). Drivers and Trends. In: Managing Business Integrity. Management for Professionals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12721-7_1

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