It may be that enough evidence is in now in to suggest that with few exceptions,
bonuses for management that exceed a small fraction of their wage are an irresistible encouragement to fraud,
particularly if the crimes first originate outside that company and give the illusion of allowing theft without ultimate responsibility.
It isn't possible to plug every mousehole, that is, to remove every possible fraudulent scheme;
so dangling huge carrots in front of executives that most will only be able to reach if they tell themselves and their bosses a few convenient (but eventually very costly) lies is a very bad idea -
unless you've just gotten your management degree and want to improve your lifestyle, of course.
The take home lesson for investors, institutional or individual, is to find out the bonus structure before you buy stock in a firm.
If it is high enough to heavily reward theft or fraud, invest elsewhere.
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