IT PAYS to cook the books, according to a new report issued by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy. "CEOs of companies under investigation for accounting irregularities earned 70 percent more from 1999 to 2001 than the average CEO at large companies," the report concluded.

Researchers looked at the top executives of 23 firms under investigation by the Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies. The suspected crooks raked in an average of $62 million from 1999 to 2001, compared to $36 million for CEOs listed in the annual Business Week magazine executive pay survey.

And workers paid the price. A total of 162,000 workers were laid off at the 23 shady corporations during the same period.

Home page | Back to the top