Is corporate America permanently tarnished?

America's corporate sector has been hit by another scandal, with the office equipment giant Xerox indicating that it misstated its accounts by just under $2bn during the past five years.

Following the recent Enron and WorldCom scandals, the fraud has stunned the US political and financial establishment which has long held itself up to the rest of the world as a role model.

Countries across Europe and Asia, from Russia to India and Japan were encouraged to modernise their businesses and economies along US lines.

President George W Bush has vowed to address the problems shaking corporate America.

But will this be enough to restore confidence in the country's business practices?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

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Your reaction

The suits have betrayed their real bosses

Srinivas Bangarbale, USA

Confidence in the capitalists will return only after the large corporations that have abused the loopholes in the law and their relationship with politicians are held accountable financially, their senior executives locked up for an extended amount of time doing hard labour and stricter regulation of the accountants enforced without fear or favour. The suits have betrayed their real bosses, the shareholders.
Srinivas Bangarbale, USA

What is new about corporate fraud? Mega corporations have been systematically swindling Third World nations, supported by the active muscle power of the US government and a stooge called WTO.
Karthi, Australia

Let's face it, corporate America is all about greed, greed, and more greed. Everyone is expendable in corporate mentality when it comes to making more money for those at the top of the heap. Until that changes, nothing else will. Why should people be loyal to companies that don't care about them?
Eva, USA

Corporate America is in very, very serious trouble. The essence of the country is in the capital markets and right now the capital market is rejecting corporate America. A couple more years of lack of investment will definitely attack the core of this country's very essence of investment. Such humungous amount of investor losses and fraud does not simply go away one fine morning - their effects linger around and mushroom into even bigger problems. Unless we can take very bold and very decisive action RIGHT NOW, this country could well be spiral slowly but surely into the dark well of financial depression.
Steve, USA

I believe this process is necessary as a sort of "corporate cleansing". Eventually consumer confidence will be rebuilt. The economy is bad right now which means people have tight budgets and with the scandals, it puts them off. But when all of this is over, investors will come back, maybe not like 1999 but at least back to normal
Sanket, USA

I can't see the culture of corporate America changing just because several of Bush's cronies have committed massive financial fraud. I mean it's a case of bolting the stable door after the horse has already gone.
Arthur, UK

If some jail sentences are handed out it should shape up shady business practices

Nate Barker, USA

It may take time, but if some jail sentences are handed out it should shape up shady business practices and I think confidence can be restored, especially among Americans who are always looking for ways to spend/make money.
Nate Barker, USA

First it was Enron, now WorldCom, I don't know how many more there are to come. But I still have the hope that there are many more companies in corporate America whose basic values are correct. Enron and Worldcom though big, may just be isolated instances.
Sarabjit, India

For the good of the world's economies, one would hope the US economy recovers and the tarnished image of its corporate giants get a little polishing. But, it is not the corporate world alone. The US also needs to follow through for example on its changes to law in relation to corporate campaign funding. It seems the parties are already busy trying to find loopholes and indeed change the laws to something more suitable to them. In general though, it does raise the question: Would the world be better off with an economy not centred on the US?
Peter Wolf, Costa Rica

Not for a few years. Think about the people who invested their pension on those companies!
SM, UK