BrianGarst.com

One in five CEO’s worry that their company “[does] not comply with federal, state, or local laws.”

According to poll results, 22% of those responding answered “yes” to the question: “Have you ever been concerned that the actions of a company that you have worked for either now or in the past do not comply with federal, state, or local laws?”

“What we are seeing is a crack in the confidence level of corporate executives who at one time may have believed that their company could do no wrong, “said Reuben Guttman, G&E partner and co-founder of Voices. “Now as short-term corporate decision making has led to layoffs of even high level executives, these employees are perhaps beginning to look at things differently.”

“It is disturbing that 22% of the respondents believe that their own companies may be breaking the law,” said Cyrus Mehri, partner at the law firm of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC and co-founder of Voices “Skirting the law may just be business as usual, but, sadly the impact can be devastating to consumers, employees and shareholders.”

I have a slightly different reaction.  Federal, state and local laws have become so vague and numerous that I’m surprised the figure isn’t much higher.

Given the modern legal environment for individuals, let alone corporations and how they are demonized, I’d expect any CEO worth his salt to be darn near paranoid about the likelihood that his company is breaking some law, somewhere.  These days, the Feds are just looking for an excuse.  As massive and convoluted as our legal codes are, does anyone doubt they can find legal problems with any company they choose to put in their sights?