Joseph Berardino, the ex-CEO of Arthur Andersen, spoke to an eclectic group of Dolan School of Business students, Ignatian Residential College students, professors and businesspeople in the Dolan School of Business last Wednesday, Nov. 6.
After a brief introduction by the Dean of the School of Business Dr. Norman Solomon, in which Solomon referred to Berardino as having “great personal conviction and courage,” Berardino gave a prepared speech, followed by a question and answer session.
“I feel like I’ve come home,” said Berardino, who graduated from Fairfield in 1972 with an accounting degree. “I’ve never left Fairfield.”
Students interviewed after the speech had a mixed reaction to Berardino’s talk. “Although I didn’t agree with everything he said, it was interesting to hear the other side of the story…what it was like to be on the other side of the fence,” Greg DiCamillo ’05 said.
“I thought it was a good experience,” said Emily Treano ’05, a business student. “He seems to be a smart guy, and I think people here can learn a lot from him.”
Berardino’s speech consisted mostly of his thoughts on business in today’s world, sprinkled with life lessons.
He gave the audience three major points that he feels apply to all of business: that business is risky, good people will make bad mistakes and bad people will do bad things. At no point during his speech did he discuss the Enron meltdown last year which, in large part, caused the company he led, Arthur Andersen, to go out of business.
He then discussed many aspects of the business community today; in particular what is wrong with big business today and what needs to be done to solve those problems.
Berardino gave his thoughts on some of the solutions to these problems, all of which were fairly simple. His big argument was that business owners need to “follow American ideals” to do a good job.
By following those ideals, people will do the right thing for themselves, their company and employees, and the country at large, he said. He also said that companies should invite outsiders to sit on their boards. He talked at length about how auditors need to change, as this is the area in which he is most familiar with, and need to be more accurate in their reports, as well as simplifying and having a set grading system for those reports.
All in all, Berardino said that more governmental regulation is not needed to help business rebound from its current slump. “Most financial crashes are followed by new rules, which always have unintended consequences,” he said. “The current crash has already cleaned up the excesses of Wall Street.” Later, he added, “The most change needs to come from the private sector. You can’t legislate morality.”
Questions that members of the audience asked Berardino ranged from straightforward queries about his view on business, to inquiries about his view of political and economic theory, to questions about the Enron scandal.
He was also asked about how he’s spent his time since Arthur Andersen fell apart. He said, “I’ve done a lot of thinking and reflecting on life. It’s forced me to slow down and think about everything.”
However, when one Ignatian Residental College student asked him about the paper shredding that occurred during the Enron scandal, he simply pointed out what the legal system had ruled on so far and then said, “This is not the right time to discuss it.”
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