Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to trace a history of American codes of business ethics as they evolved from religious bases to legalistic bases to an international emphasis. Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes the evolution of business codes of ethics over the twentieth...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an historical perspective to help understand the forces that resulted in the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act. It aims to provide an historical vindication of the taxonomy developed by Charles Conrad in 2003. Design/methodology/approach – The paper...