With a background in the scandals in Enron, WorldCom, Vivendi, Adelphia, Tyco, Global Crossing, and others, this article discusses three ethical issues:

1) Are managers corrupt?

2) Is money corrupting management?

3) Or, are things too complex to be manageable?

Consequently, the authors argue that

1) Present accounting procedures are antiquated and provide limited value to those steering companies and could be improved.

2) That such improvement would not be sufficient to give corporate management real control over the company.

3) The question, thus, is that if corporate capitalism’s accounting practices, dating back to the 14th century, cannot keep up with the pace of business today, is corporate capitalism then sustainable and what governance issues does this prospect raise?