Governance, Regulation and Ethics - Essay Example

Fox quickly gets used to rape, murder and follow no ethical principles. Finally, going up a career ladder turns into a destructive downfall of Bud Fox. A voice of clear mind and wisdom is echoed in his ears sometimes…this is a voice of his father, an ordinary airline mechanic. This film is often characterized as a symbolic embodiment of political and economic situation of those years. Gordon Gekko’s character depicted by Douglas is a collective image of moral degradation drowned in corruption of the majority of businessmen and politicians.

It is generally accepted that greed is considered to be a perfect theme for discussion in filmmaking industry. This kind of discussion appeals to the inner world of the viewers and shows what ‘good’ is and what ‘evil’ is in the world. In 90s stock market made people insane. They would risk their reputations and lives for profits. Financial conditions of America perfectly depicted in the Wall Street movie predicted financial collapse of stock market in some years. The director of the film Oliver Stone shows an ethical lesson to his viewers: an improper attention to the details of business in stock market may result in the market collapse.

Authorities didn’t care much about the process of business doing they were focused on potential benefits and profits and neglected procedures of daily routine in the market of shares (Ross, 2005). Ethical issues are neglected by Bud Fox as well. His consciousness is concealed from moral or ethical considerations. He is interested in monetary profits only. On the example of the main characters’ behaviors (Gekko and Fox) the director shows that they didn’t have right to behave in such a way and neglect generally accepted moral and ethical norms and rules (Wall Street Movies Hit Big Screen, 2010).

Corporate America has a dark side drowned in corruption and ethical neglect (Geisst 1999, p. 23; Jordan, 2003). The main characters are driven by Machiavelli’s claim that the end justifies the means. This great ancient philosopher justified the actions of the authorities in the name of their reached goals. But Machiavelli’s claim if not misinterpreted should be followed by any ruler. It should be explained in the following way: the end justifies the means, i.e. there is no need to stop before obstacles in order to reach success.

Thus moral degradation and ethical neglect of the main characters would be hardly justified by Machiavelli. If to consider law breach of main characters from the perspective of legal regulations, their behavior may be considered from criminal liability regulations assigned to corporations, such as The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) developed in USA and UK Bribery Act (2010). The former document deals with two main claims of the document such as accounting transparency requirements and a point concerning bribery of foreign officials (Differences between corporate offences regulations).

Starting from 2010 UK has updated these regulations and introduced stricter regulations for international companies or UK companies acting in the international arena. The UK Act extends the limits of criminal liability to senior officers of a company in case there are offences of regulatory or criminal nature (Differences between corporate offences regulations). Moreover, criminal liability applied for companies may be clarified by Companies Act 1967. In accordance with this Act, company may be responsible for financial, labor or