HealthSouth Founder, Former CFO Talks Corporate Fraud at VSU Nov. 13

Aaron Beam

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University will present Corporate Fraud: Ethics and the HealthSouth Deception from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, in the Health Sciences and Business Administration Building Auditorium. This event is free of charge and open to the public.

Aaron Beam, a founder and the first chief financial officer of HealthSouth, serving from 1984 to 1997, will share candid stories about how the HealthSouth fraud happened and the role he played in “cooking the books.” He will also discuss who is actually responsible for fraud, how fraud takes place, and what can be done to prevent frauds like Enron and HealthSouth. 

Beam participated in the multi-billion dollar HealthSouth accounting fraud, which took place during the mid- to late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2003 he pled guilty and was sentenced to federal prison. He began sharing his story six years later in the hope of encouraging others to avoid the trap of rationalizing unethical behavior, no matter how small.

Beam published “HealthSouth: The Wagon to Disaster” in 2009. His second book, “Ethics Playbook: Winning Ethically in Business,” was published in 2015.

Corporate Fraud: Ethics and the HealthSouth Deception is part of VSU’s recognition of the University System of Georgia’s Ethics Awareness Week Nov. 11-17.

The University System of Georgia is committed to the highest ethical and professional standards of conduct in pursuit of its mission to create a more educated Georgia. Accomplishing this mission demands integrity, good judgment, and dedication to public service from all members of the USG community.

Ethics Awareness Week is part of a comprehensive Ethics and Compliance Program.  This program includes a system-level Ethics Policy and Code of Conduct, on-board ethics training, periodic ethics refresher training, compliance audits, special reviews, and an Ethics and Compliance Reporting Hotline.