A recent CBS poll revealed that, as a result of corporate scandals at Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia Communications, and others, a whopping two-thirds of Americans believe that corporate executives are dishonest. This overall assessment is even worse now than during the last financial crises, the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s. Congress has responded to public outrage by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The act has far-reaching consequences for every manager who works in a public company. It will not prevent fraud or operational losses, but it will make a manager responsible for one occurring on his or her watch. It requires senior managers to certify that their company has an operational system of internal controls over financial reporting. In business, everything flows down the chain of command. Virtually all managers will be required to maintain a system of internal control and will be held accountable if a fraud occurs.

Now more than ever, managers need to understand that they are fighting a war. The threats come from within their own ranks and from outside their world of influence. The enemy is intelligent, better financed, and more dangerous than ever before. It seems as if the front line is everywhere. Though fraud can originate from negative forces outside the organization