When (Un)ethical behavior is an issue for the industry : an examination of CEO letters of securities brokerage firms

Highly publicized scandals resulting from unethical corporate behaviour have shaken investor confidence, leading to new legislation in the U.S., such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Indeed, corporate governance and financial reporting practices are under increased scrutiny, whether or not a company's image has been tarnished. This is especially an issue in the case in the Securities Brokerage Industry, an important sector linking corporations and investors and one that has been characterized by a number of high profile scandals in recent years. Financial scandals have repercussions beyond the individual firm involved, affecting the reputation of the wider industry and the firms in the industry. Communicating an ethical stance or at least addressing ethical issues has conceivably taken on increased importance for securities brokerage firms. In this scenario, it is interesting to examine communication by Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) because they are considered the most credible voice of an organization. The present chapter explores how ethical issues and industry scandals are addressed in the CEO letters accompanying the annual reports of firms in the Securities Brokerage Industry. It draws on theories of social responsibility and social responsiveness and the relation of these two concepts to ethics in business. The dataset consists of letters written in 2002 and 2003 and thus encompasses a set of letters written before and a set written after major scandals and ensuing legislation, specifically the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in July 2002. The study examines the use of implicit and explicit evaluation, selected lexical items, and personal pronoun references, noting differences in the two sets of letters. It identifies implicit and explicit means by which the letters refer to scandals and address ethics-related issues, noting subtle shifts in the way firms position themselves with respect to industry events that affected investor confidence.