From a corporate governance perspective, WorldCom did not have a code of ethics. Attempts to develop such a code were met by the CEO’s derisive description of a code of ethics as a “colossal waste of time.” The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and related SEC interpretations require public companies to disclose whether they have a code of ethics that applies to the CEO, CFO, and chief accounting officer and, if not, why not. Moreover, the NYSE and NASDAQ now require companies listed on these exchanges to have a code of ethics. Although these requirements are a step in the right direction, they will fail to have their intended effect if senior management doesn’t fully embrace the written code. In a nutshell, a code of ethics must be accepted and enforced if the code is going to be effective.