Chief Ethics OfficersChief Ethics Officers (CEOs) may not have been very popular a decade ago, but the demand for such a position begins to grow within large companies. From now on, when I mention CEOs in this document, understand that I am referring to Chief Ethics Officers, not General Managers. CEOs began appearing in corporate America around the same time as the creation of federal sentencing guidelines for corporations. According to these guidelines, companies that have instituted compliance and ethics programs within their institutions would not have received sanctions as severe as those that did not have these programs in place.[2] Salary.com conducted a survey of the Ethics Officer Association (EOA). ) in August 2005, which further highlighted the growing demand for CEOs. More than 109 of the world's largest companies participated in this survey[4]. “Given the growing emphasis on business ethics and compliance, Salary.com's survey analysis showed that top ethics officers receive salaries comparable to those of a chief information officer and significant amounts of long-term incentives (non-qualified shares). options, incentive stock options and restricted stock). we have seen it in the past. Another powerful driver of CEO popularity was the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, this law set new standards for corporate responsibility in the United States. Requiring companies to not only make a stronger commitment to ethical standards...... paper agents: who needs them? Retrieved February 12, 2008 from http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/23/leadership-ethics-hp-lead-govern-cx_hc_1023ethics.html[3] Roner, Lisa Ethics Officers – Positions that require power ? Retrieved February 15, 2008 from http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=5411[4] Salary.com. The survey from Salary.com and the Ethics Officer Association validates the value of the roles of ethics and compliance officers in today's business world. Retrieved February 18, 2008, from http://www.salary.com/aboutus/layoutscripts/abtl_default.asp?tab=abt&cat=cat012&ser. =ser041∂=Par474[5] Vallario, CW Is your ethics program working? Retrieved February 12, 2008 from http://accounting.smartpros.com/x57555.xml