MGMT 42403 Final Study Guide: Business Ethics, Regulation, and Compliance

Vocabulary flashcards covering government regulations, sentencing guidelines, whistleblowing, digital technology ethics, global business standards, and corporate compliance programs.

A U.S. law that prohibits offering or paying bribes to foreign officials to obtain or keep business, and requires covered companies to keep accurate books and maintain internal accounting controls.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

Payments (also known as grease payments) made to foreign officials intended only to speed up routine, nondiscretionary government actions.

Facilitation Payments

Ordinary services that government officials are already obligated to provide—such as processing visas, issuing routine permits, scheduling inspections, or providing utilities—excluding decisions to award or keep business.

Routine Government Actions

A payment made to obtain an improper decision or business advantage, such as winning or retaining a contract.

Bribe

Rules used by federal courts to determine sentences for organizations, taking into account the seriousness of the crime, leadership responsibility, and compliance programs to establish fines and sanctions.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines

A metric that begins at 5 and is adjusted upward for factors like management involvement or obstruction, and downward for effective ethics programs, cooperation, and acceptance of responsibility, to determine a company's federal fine range.

Culpability Score

A fine set large enough to strip a convicted organization of all its assets when it operated primarily for criminal purposes.

Death Penalty (Organizational Sentencing)

A court-ordered sanction allowing a convicted organization to continue operating under supervision and conditions, such as improving compliance, reporting to an independent monitor, paying restitution, and avoiding future violations.

Organizational Probation

Federal legislation that strengthened financial reporting, internal controls, executive accountability, auditor independence, and protections for whistleblowers reporting corporate fraud.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002

Reporting suspected illegal or unethical behavior to an internal authority within the company, such as a supervisor, human resources, an ethics hotline, or a compliance department.

Internal Whistleblowing

Reporting suspected corporate wrongdoing to parties outside the company, such as regulatory agencies, law enforcement, or the media.

External Whistleblowing

The act by an individual with inside knowledge of reporting suspected illegal or unethical business practices to parties capable of investigating or correcting the behavior.

Corporate Whistleblowing

A U.S. statute imposing liability—including treble damages and statutory penalties—on individuals or organizations that knowingly submit false or fraudulent claims for payment to the federal government.

Civil False Claims Act (FCA)

Another name for the False Claims Act, originally enacted in 1863 under President Abraham Lincoln to combat supplier fraud against the Union Army.

Lincoln's Law

Congressional modifications that strengthened the False Claims Act by increasing penalties, enhancing protections against retaliation, and improving incentives for qui tam whistleblowers.

1986 False Claims Act Amendments

Whistleblower lawsuits brought under the False Claims Act by private individuals (relators) on behalf of the federal government, entitling eligible individuals to a portion of the recovered funds.

Qui Tam Lawsuits

A private individual who files a qui tam lawsuit on behalf of the government under the False Claims Act.

Relator

Superficial or nominal agreement, such as clicking 'I agree' without understanding a long privacy policy, which satisfies legal formalities without providing informed choice.

Thin Consent

An agreement that is informed, meaningful, and completely voluntary, where the individual fully understands what will happen, the associated risks, and the alternatives before consenting.

Thick Consent

A legal doctrine holding an employer or organization liable for the wrongful acts committed by its employees or agents within the scope of their employment.

Vicarious Liability

The legal and financial responsibility an entity incurs from digital activity, including data breaches, cyber negligence, hacking, and unauthorized disclosures of sensitive information.

Cyberliability

An ethical framework that evaluates actions based on their outcomes, aiming to maximize overall good or minimize harm for the greatest number of people.

Utilitarianism

The expanding interconnectedness and integration of national economies, businesses, markets, and labor forces across international borders.

Globalization

The philosophical belief that ethical standards are culturally determined and must only be judged within the context of a particular society, which can sometimes be misused to justify harmful business conduct.

Ethical Relativism

A set of international business principles including: doing no intentional harm, producing more good than harm for host nations, fostering local development, honoring human rights, paying fair taxes, working with just institutions, and guaranteeing the safety of facilities and transferred technologies.

Richard DeGeorge's Guidelines

A voluntary corporate sustainability framework organized by the United Nations comprising ten principles related to human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption.

UN Global Compact

Government-backed, comprehensive recommendations for multinational enterprises that include National Contact Points to address implementation issues and complaints.

OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises

A business philosophy that prioritizes ethical, socially conscious, and environmentally sound practices that can be maintained long term rather than focusing exclusively on short-term profits.

Sustainable Ethics

An organization that promotes ethical business conduct through research, training, guidance, and resources designed to help organizations build ethical corporate cultures.

Institute of Business Ethics (IBE)

A formal, written document outlining an organization's core values, behavioral expectations, and rules that guide decision-making for personnel.

Code of Ethics

An organizational leader who manages the ethics and compliance program, oversees reporting channels, coordinates investigations, updates ethical codes, and advises leadership on ethical risk.

Ethics Officer

The condition of being open, honest, and direct regarding corporate decisions, operations, performance, and issues while safeguarding legitimately proprietary and confidential information.

Organizational Transparency