a juicy corporate scandal is like a detective story. The investigator, usually a journalist, must examine the clues, interrogate those suspects who are willing to talk and, with luck, determine a solution: “It was the finance director in the annual accounts with the fake revenues!”
The incentives for corporate malfeasance are as great today as they were when humble clerks could become wealthy “nabobs” by working for the East India Company. Create the right business model and you can join the global elite. But the more successful the fraud, the harder it becomes to maintain as the company grows; ever greater trickery is needed to create the illusion of continued progress.