It's Getting Harder for CEOs Who Lie or Cheat to Escape the Ax
- PwC: Firing of CEOs for ethical lapses rose 36% from 2012-16
- Ousted CEOs hurt market value and leave with hefty severances
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The number of chief executive officers fired for ethical lapses more than doubled in the U.S. and Canada in the past five years -- a sign, researchers say, that corporate directors are increasingly unwilling to tolerate misbehavior.
Fourteen North American CEOs were ousted for ethical lapses from 2012 to 2016, compared with six in the preceding five-year period, according to a study of 2,500 global companies by PwC. The researchers included executives who left because of their own improper conduct or that of employees, so if, for example, a CEO was forced out because of widespread fraud in the organization, that counted as well.