Stem cooking of books

A new report has revealed that one in five company executives, has no qualms tinkering with books of accounts to achieve a certain financial target, especially during the hard times. And it is not just any other executive, but the very gatekeepers of probity in a business organisation including chief finance officers, chief compliance officers, heads of internal audit and heads of legal departments.

That is how low we have sunk. Probity has gone to the dogs even as corruption eats into every section of the society. This is a sad reality. Recently, a bank had to restate its financial books after underreporting its insider loans. Directors at several companies have been found guilty of the same crime.

And there are fears this is just but the tip of the ice-berg. It seems the entire corporate sector has been engaging in corruption, and thrown all rules out of the window.

Indeed, the report found that 84 per cent of business executives reported cases of corruption and bribery making Kenya the fifth most corrupt country in the world. It is a shame that corruption is being institutionalised as a way of life in Kenya.

Something has to be done before it reaches irreversible levels. It is not enough to have anti-corruption laws, or even issue threats. Action has to be taken, and it has to be taken swiftly and forcefully. Any executive found guilty of cooking books belongs in jail. Any form of corruption of corruption must not be tolerated in the private or public sector.