Commodity Giant ADM Must Act Fast to Restore Trust
Caught up in an accounting probe, one of the world’s largest traders of agricultural commodities should know that its word is its bond.
Outside the Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. milling facility in Missouri in 2017.
Source: Bloomberg
Commodity traders live and breathe by a motto: My word is my bond. Trust is essential in an industry where a handshake still matters. And few things require more trust than one’s accounts.
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., one of the world’s largest traders of agricultural commodities, discovered Monday how painful it is when the world stops taking one’s word. Its shares plunged 24% — its biggest one-day price drop in at least 40 years — after it put its chief financial officer on “administrative leave, effective immediately” pending an ongoing investigation “regarding certain accounting practices and procedures.” ADM didn’t disclose what is, if anything, wrong with the accounts.