Accounting for Evil

In 2003 I was taking accounting classes at a college in Portland, Oregon.  The professor who had been an accountant for most of his life was disturbed by the ethical cesspool left by people responsible for the finances at companies like Enron and Global Crossing.  So, one day, the teacher devoted a few minutes of class time to the subject of ethics in accounting.

The professor asked the accounting class for a show of hands, 

"How many of you would steal from your future employer

if you knew you would never get caught"?

Well over half of the class of fifty students raised their hands.  I was stunned.  The professor, who looked stunned also, asked the students to look around the room.  Then he began to explain why people who embezzle usually think they won't be caught, but often are.

The professor looked more haggard at the end of that evening than he usually did.  A man who had given much of his life to studying the best practices of accounting was now trying to teach a generation who had been indoctrinated for nearly twenty years that greed is the shortcut to self-gratification.  He may have been teaching future accountants the rules that they would someday bend and break.

I've thought about that moment quite a bit over the last decade.  I wonder how many of those students went on to become accountants and how many are watching for the moment when no one is looking.  Of course many accounts do their job with excellence day in and day out. Accountants are simply people like you and I who have to process ethical choices regularly.

Generous people look for opportunities to give. Greedy people look for opportunities to take.  Who do you suppose lives the richer life?

Last week, I found a debit card laying in the middle of a restaurant parking lot.  I asked the restaurant manager if someone had reported a lost card and they said no.  I called the bank phone number on the back of the card.  The clerk cancelled the card and thanked me several times saying that most people would try to use the card.  I got the sense that the norm was for people to steal using the card rather than to return it.  What would you do?

Question: Is there a moment you were tempted to take but choose generosity instead? I'd love to hear about it.